[cycleguy55]

I'm not expert, but I recently imported my car in to Canada, so let me speak from that perspective.

It is usually the importer's responsibility for complying with applicable standards, but it is reasonable for the importer to satisfy himself/herself as to whether those standards are likely to be met, and that is what he/she is attempting to do via the 'exporter to advise' language. The exporter may advise, and both vendor and purchaser may believe everything is okay, but the authorities will have the final say as to whether the documentation that's presented is good enough.

For my car, I ran into two issues: 1) whether the car met Canada's requirements for the car to be a minimum of 15 years old; and 2) country of origin (VIN was interpreted as issued by Malta, not Michigan). In order to satisfy the broker used by the transporter as well as the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) I had to get two documents produced: 1) a letter from the Michigan Secretary of State (MSoS) explaining how to interpret the VIN they issued as to issuing jurisdiction and date of issue (records couldn't be searched as they're all purged after 10 years); and 2) a letter from a local CBSA agent that his opinion was the car met the 15 year test, based upon the documentation I provided (MSoS letter, title issued by CT, etc.). Please note I was the one dealing with CBSA, MSoS, etc., not the vendor.

I don't know whether contacting the ND authorities would help but, based upon the fact you have a 1988 engine in the car, it would seem unlikely the car was produced 'pre-85' - though it is possible the engine was replaced.