[22c-user] Canada

Wed Apr 11 00:26:32 UTC 2007

Hi, Chris:

This is certainly a fair question, so let me do my best to answer.

A list for users of the Owasys 22C screenless phone. writes:
> How about an update regarding availability of the phone in Canada? 
> Is this being actively worked on,
Not yet, and yes, we are actively working on it, though sometimes other
issues get in the way. At the moment the issue that's in the way is that
we're not getting all the stock we can sell right now in the U.S. We've
been understocked since January. While we've received phones this year,
we've always been behind existing orders and have been working off a
back order list as a result.

> and if we can be told, what step 
> in the process are we at?

Here's the problem. It's the U.S. / Canadian border and the fact thatthe
22C needs to clear Canadian Customs on entry into Canada. By
international treaty known commonly as the Nairobi Treaty, there should
be no tax or customs duty on importing a 22C, because it is assistive
technology expressly for use of persons who are blind. That's what the
Nairobi Treaty covers, and Canada is a signatory to this treaty.
However, any given customs agent is unlikely to be familiar with this
arcane treaty, so shipping a phone from our supply in Maryland puts our
Canadian customers at risk of an extra charge for the folks in Ottawa.
We need to figure out how to avoid such unpleasant surprises.

One possible solution is to work with someone in Canada to ship phones
from a stockpile in country. We're looking into this, but haven't found
a workable solution that's satisfactory to everyone.

One complication is how to handle phones that need to be returned for
service. If we import directly from Spain to Canada, the phones would
need to go back to Spain for service, else we run into the same issues
should we try to bring them to Capital Accessibility. Our U.S.
experience is that we are able to handle most servicing issues here in
Maryland, so we would rather our Canadian customers get the time benefit
of staying on continent.

Our latest approach, for all the above reasons, is to try and develop
shipping procedures that would allow us to distribute phones directly
from Maryland. We're thinking of including the requisite paperwork our
customers will need should they ever need to return the phone to us for
servicing when we ship the phone. Otherwise, we would have to mail that
paperwork, or somehow get it to people who need to return phones to us.

Just so you know, all of these issues are ones that we face every time
we move phones between Capital Accessibility and Owasys--but our
customers never see them because we deal with issues that arise behind
the scenes, as it were. Have there been issues? Absolutely. We have had
shipments held up for weeks. At the moment, we have a small shipment
that is apparently lost in transit. Mostly, we've worked out the kinks
well enough that our shipments just move through, but only if things are
documented 100% correctly.

So, if anyone has ideas on how to manage that pesky border, we're all
ears, and we'll be happy to start shipping to Canada as soon as our next
major supply clears U.S. Customs.

PS: Just so you know, we expect to add Austrlia once we've figured this
issue out. The problems are really very much the same, but we haven't
added that word to our web pages because we've learned things aren't
always as straight forward as we might think.

Janina Sajka, Customer Support
Capital Accessibility, LLC

> 
> Chris
> 
> 
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-- 

Janina Sajka,	Phone:	+1.202.595.7777;	sip:janina at a11y.org
Partner, Capital Accessibility LLC	http://CapitalAccessibility.Com

Marketing the Owasys 22C talking screenless cell phone in the U.S. and Canada
Learn more at http://ScreenlessPhone.Com

Chair, Open Accessibility	janina at a11y.org	
Linux Foundation		http://a11y.org