BYD Canada Dealerships in 2026 Are Reported, Not Announced

The Dealer Report, and What Is Actually Confirmed

You have probably seen BYD headlines before. BYD coming to Canada has been a rumour for years, something that always seemed like it was about to happen and then didn't. What changed in 2026 is the economics, not an announcement.

The dealer figure comes from Farid Ahmad, chief executive of Dealer Solutions Mergers & Acquisitions in Markham, Ont. He told The Globe and Mail in March 2026 that BYD wants about 20 dealerships within a year, Greater Toronto Area first, then Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary, and that his firm was in talks on three GTA sites. That is a consultant's account of a dealer search. BYD itself told Global News in May that it "has not announced, approved, or confirmed any plans to launch passenger vehicles in Canada, open more than 20 dealerships, or roll out specific vehicle models." No BYD launch date exists.

On January 16, 2026, Canada and China announced an arrangement that, from March 1, cut the tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles from 100% to 6.1% inside an annual quota. That is not a small adjustment. That is the difference between a car that costs twice as much as it should and one that can actually compete on a dealership floor. For context, the 100% tariff was introduced in October 2024 as a direct response to what the federal government described as unfair subsidies in China's EV manufacturing sector. It was the same playbook the United States used, and at the time it effectively locked every Chinese EV brand out of the Canadian market overnight.

The new 6.1% rate comes with a framework attached. There is a 49,000-vehicle annual quota under the arrangement, meaning each shipment needs a Global Affairs Canada permit and imports above that number are not allowed at all. That quota is significant, it is large enough to supply a serious dealership network, but small enough that any brand using it will have to prioritize where it allocates inventory. A GTA-first dealer search is not a coincidence. It is where the volume is.

BYD has done some of the paperwork early. Transport Canada's Appendix G pre-clearance list includes BYD Auto's Shenzhen and Xi'an plants in the passenger-car class, the only China-based entries in that class. Appendix G is a border pre-clearance listing for Canadian commercial importers, not a sales approval or a model certification, and no BYD model has the Natural Resources Canada fuel consumption rating that comes before new retail sale. The listing is a real first step, not a car that can be sold.

A 20-dealership first year, as Ahmad described it, would be aggressive but not unrealistic for a company of BYD's scale. BYD delivered over 4.6 million vehicles in 2025 and was the first automaker to produce 10 million new-energy vehicles, and it has established dealer networks across Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Latin America. Canada is late to this particular party, but BYD knows how to build a retail presence quickly.

What this report means for you depends on your situation. If you are in the market for an EV right now, there is no BYD to wait a few months for: no price, no date and no dealer has been announced. If you are not in the market right now, it still matters, because a BYD entry would create competitive pressure on pricing and feature sets across every brand operating in Canada.

For the broader picture of what is coming from China and why the tariff shift matters, the Chinese EVs Entering Canada breakdown covers the policy and competitive picture in full.

The Four Models Canadians Ask About, and What They Actually Are

Let's talk about the cars themselves, because the model names get thrown around without much context and that makes it hard to evaluate whether any of this is relevant to your life.

BYD has not said which models it would bring to Canada. The four Canadians ask about most are the Seal, the Dolphin, the Atto 3, and the Seagull. These are not concept vehicles or future products. They are in active production right now and selling in large volumes in other markets. Here is what each one actually is.

The Seal

The Seal is BYD's premium sedan, and it is the one that competes most directly with the Tesla Model 3. It sits on a dedicated EV platform, uses a structural battery pack (the Blade Battery is integrated into the floor of the car), and in other markets delivers around 570 km of range on the CLTC cycle, real-world Canadian range in winter conditions will be lower than that, as it is with every EV. The interior is clean and well-executed, the drive feel is genuinely good by any objective standard, and the technology package is competitive. BYD has published no Canadian price for it. No federal rebate would apply, which we will get into.

The Dolphin

The Dolphin is a compact hatchback, roughly the size of a Chevy Bolt or a Volkswagen Golf. It is the best-selling BYD model globally in several markets, and the reason is simple: it is practical, reasonably spacious for its footprint, and priced where a lot of people actually shop. In Canada it would meet the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt, which chevrolet.ca lists from $43,398, and the new-generation Nissan Leaf, both on the federal EVAP vehicle list.

The Atto 3

The Atto 3 is a compact crossover SUV, which is the body style most Canadians actually buy. If you want a BYD that looks like the car your neighbour drives, the Atto 3 is it. It has a more conventional silhouette than the Seal or Dolphin, a higher seating position, and in other markets it has sold well to buyers who want EV efficiency without anything that feels like a statement. Its body style puts it in direct conversation with the Chevy Equinox EV and the Hyundai Kona Electric.

The Seagull

The Seagull is the one that gets the headlines, and the Canadian price attached to it was fabricated: the C$25,000 figure came from an impostor X account posing as BYD executive Stella Li, which The Deep Dive corrected on May 27, 2026 and Global News removed on May 28. The Seagull is a subcompact city car, think smaller than a Honda Fit, and its range reflects that. You are not driving from Toronto to Ottawa on a single charge. But for someone doing urban commuting, running errands, and occasionally taking a highway trip, it covers the real use case for a second car or a primary city vehicle. A small, affordable EV in that class from a major manufacturer, with a proper warranty, is the gap a Seagull would fill if BYD brought it here.

For deeper specs and a full comparison of all four models against their Canadian competitors, the BYD Canada Lineup breakdown has everything you need.

The Tariff Situation, Explained Without the Political Noise

The tariff story is complicated by the fact that two different things happened at roughly the same time, and the coverage has mixed them together in ways that obscure what is actually relevant to a car buyer.

Here is the clean version.

In October 2024, Canada introduced a 100% surtax on Chinese-made EVs. This was on top of the existing 6.1% Most Favoured Nation tariff rate. The 100% number was the policy decision, not the base rate. So when you heard "Canada put a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs," that was accurate, but the underlying base rate was always 6.1%, and that base rate is what trade agreements and quota frameworks operate against.

What changed is that Canada and China announced an arrangement on January 16, 2026, and on March 1 the 100% surtax was repealed under Canada Gazette order SOR/2026-32, bringing the rate back down to the base 6.1%, but only within the 49,000-vehicle annual quota. Every shipment needs a Global Affairs Canada permit, and once the annual volume is reached, no more quota imports are allowed; there is no higher rate to pay above the ceiling. This is a managed trade arrangement, not a full liberalization. The Canadian government is letting Chinese-built EVs in, but under controlled conditions that limit the volume and give domestic and allied manufacturers time to respond.

The 6.1% rate on a vehicle with a $35,000 import price works out to roughly $2,135 in import duty. That is real money, but it is the kind of number a manufacturer can absorb into their margin, price into MSRP, or split between themselves and the dealer depending on how aggressively they want to establish market share.

The 49,000-unit quota sounds large in isolation, but it is shared by every company importing EVs from China, and BYD is not the one using it. As of October 30, 2026, the Government of Canada's quota report shows 16,206 of the 49,000 places used and 32,794 remaining, with no BYD passenger car on sale in Canada. Reported users so far are brands such as Tesla, which imports its Model 3 from Shanghai. The quota is a ceiling, and the first quota year is nowhere near it.

The full policy analysis, including what the trade deal structure means for other Chinese brands like Geely, SAIC, and Chery, is in the tariff deal breakdown if you want to go deeper.

Why BYD Cannot Get You the $5,000 Federal Rebate, and What That Actually Costs You

This is the part that matters most to your wallet, and it is worth being direct about.

Canada's Electric Vehicle Affordability Program, EVAP, or what most people call the federal rebate, provides up to $5,000 toward the purchase of an eligible new battery-electric vehicle in 2026. The eligibility criteria include a final transaction value of $50,000 or less (with no cap for vehicles made in Canada), and a requirement that the vehicle be made in Canada or in a country that has a free trade agreement with Canada. China does not have a free trade agreement with Canada. BYD's vehicles, manufactured in Shenzhen and Xi'an, would not qualify, and neither does the Shanghai-built Tesla Model 3.

This is not a technicality that will get fixed. It is a structural policy decision that reflects Canada's trade relationship with China, and it is unlikely to change in the near term regardless of what happens with tariff rates. Transport Canada never names China; the exclusion works through the free-trade-agreement rule.

What this means practically: every BYD purchase in Canada would be a full-price purchase from a federal incentive standpoint. The $5,000 gap is real and you need to factor it into your comparison.

Take the Dolphin as an example. Its natural Canadian rival would be the Hyundai Kona Electric, which is on the EVAP vehicle list. BYD has published no Canadian price, so the only firm number in the comparison is the rebate: whatever sticker gap separates the two cars, the Kona's buyer gets up to $5,000 of it back at the dealership. That changes the decision calculus, especially when you factor in the Kona's established Canadian service network and the certainty of parts availability.

Provincial programs cut the other way from what many buyers assume. British Columbia's Go Electric passenger-vehicle rebate has been paused since May 15, 2025, so there is no BC purchase rebate for any car right now. Quebec's Roulez vert has no country-of-origin rule at all: its 2026 eligible list includes the Shanghai-built Tesla Model 3, and it pays $2,000 on a new fully electric vehicle with an MSRP under $65,000 until the program ends on December 31, 2026. No BYD is on that list because none is sold in Canada. Ontario has no provincial purchase rebate, so the federal gap is the whole story in the GTA.

The summary: a BYD would need a sticker up to $5,000 below a rebate-eligible rival's just to match it at the till. Do the full math before you make a decision, and factor in your province.

Doug Ford Called Them Spy Vehicles, Let's Be Fair About What That Claim Actually Is

Ontario Premier Doug Ford's "spy vehicles" comment landed hard in Canadian media, and it deserves a fair examination rather than either dismissal or amplification.

Ford's position is that BYD vehicles represent a national security risk because they collect data, location, driving patterns, connectivity logs, and that data is subject to Chinese law, which can compel companies to hand it over to the state. He has called for a Canada-wide boycott and has made clear he would prefer the federal government to follow the United States' approach and ban Chinese EVs outright.

Here is what is accurate in that framing: modern connected vehicles collect substantial data. Every manufacturer does this, Tesla, GM, Ford, Volkswagen, Hyundai. BYD's vehicles are no different in terms of data collection capability. The specific concern with Chinese manufacturers is that the Chinese National Intelligence Law of 2017 obligates Chinese companies and citizens to cooperate with state intelligence agencies when asked, and there is no independent judicial review process equivalent to what exists in Canada, the US, or Europe. That is a real legal and structural difference.

Here is what is not accurate, or at least not established: there is no documented case of BYD vehicles being used as surveillance tools against private citizens in Western countries. The concern is theoretical and structural, not based on a specific incident. The same theoretical concern applies to any connected device manufactured in China, smartphones, routers, laptops, and Canada has not banned those categories.

The geopolitical context matters here too. The spy vehicle framing is partly substantive security concern and partly politics. Ford's opposition to BYD aligns with his broader posture on China trade, and it lands in a moment when Canada-US relations are strained and there is political pressure to demonstrate alignment with American trade policy. That does not make the concern fake, but it does mean you should weigh it against evidence rather than rhetoric.

The European Union conducted a thorough investigation of Chinese EV subsidies and data practices and landed on tariffs rather than a ban. Australia, which has its own complicated relationship with China, has allowed BYD to operate freely and BYD is now among the top-selling EV brands there. These are not naive countries, and their regulatory decisions reflect a different risk assessment than Ford's.

If data privacy is a real concern for you, and it is a legitimate concern, the question to ask is not whether BYD collects data but what the specific exposure is for a Canadian consumer and what mitigations are available. That is a harder question than a boycott call, but it is the right one.

How BYD Stacks Up Against What You Can Actually Buy Right Now

The Canadian EV market in 2026 is in a strange place. Tesla's Model 3 Premium RWD launched in Canada at $39,490 on May 1, 2026, imported from Shanghai, and it misses EVAP for the same free-trade reason a BYD would. The legacy manufacturers, GM, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, are all in the market with solid products, and many of their EVs are on the EVAP vehicle list.

Without Canadian BYD prices, the comparison has to run on what each rival actually costs and whether it carries the rebate.

Seal vs. the Model 3

The Seal's natural rival is the Tesla Model 3, and here the rebate gap disappears: both are built in China, so neither qualifies for EVAP. The Model 3 Premium RWD launched at $39,490, and in Quebec it collects the $2,000 Roulez vert incentive. The Seal's advantage is platform maturity and the structural Blade Battery integration. Its disadvantage would be an unproven Canadian service network against Tesla's established one.

Dolphin vs. the compact segment

This is where BYD would have the clearest opening, though the segment is no longer empty. The Chevrolet Bolt is back for 2027 from $43,398 on chevrolet.ca, the Nissan Leaf has a new generation, and both sit on the EVAP vehicle list alongside the Hyundai Kona Electric. A Dolphin would have to undercut them by more than $5,000 on the sticker to come out cheaper at the till.

Atto 3 vs. compact crossovers

The Atto 3's competition is stiff. The Chevrolet Equinox EV starts at $49,598 on chevrolet.ca, a figure that already includes freight and dealer fees, and its trims are on the EVAP vehicle list, subject to the $50,000 final-transaction cap. The Kia Niro EV is on that list too. The Atto 3 would need to differentiate on features, warranty, or ownership cost as well as price, which is a harder sell until it has a track record in Canada.

Seagull vs. used EVs

Few new EVs in Canada sit in the Seagull's city-car class; the Fiat 500e, which is on the EVAP vehicle list, is the closest. If BYD brought the Seagull here, it would compete as much with used EVs and new entry-level gas cars as with other new EVs. Its Canadian price is unknown, because the C$25,000 figure that circulated was fabricated.

For a side-by-side comparison of EVs across price ranges, the Compare EVs tool lets you filter by price, range, and eligibility.

One thing worth noting: whatever EV you buy, home charging infrastructure is the upgrade that makes the biggest quality-of-life difference. A Level 2 charger at home means you start every day with a full battery. If you are seriously considering a BYD or any other EV in this range, that is the investment to plan for alongside the car purchase.

What BYD's Blade Battery Is and Why It Actually Matters

The Blade Battery gets mentioned in almost every BYD article, but usually without enough explanation to understand why it is significant. Let's fix that.

BYD developed the Blade Battery in-house and introduced it commercially in 2020. It uses lithium iron phosphate chemistry, LFP, which is a different chemistry from the nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cells that most other manufacturers use. LFP has been around for decades and is well understood. The trade-offs compared to NMC are well established.

LFP advantages:

• Significantly better thermal stability, LFP cells are much less prone to thermal runaway, which is the failure mode that causes battery fires. The chemistry is fundamentally more stable at high temperatures.
• Longer cycle life, LFP batteries retain capacity over more charge cycles than NMC. Real-world longevity in taxi and fleet applications in China and Europe has been impressive.
• No cobalt dependency, cobalt is the expensive and ethically complicated part of the NMC supply chain. LFP does not use it, which reduces both cost and sourcing risk.
• Better performance at high state of charge, LFP can sit at 100% charge without the degradation acceleration that affects NMC batteries, which means you can charge to full every night without worrying about long-term capacity loss.

LFP disadvantages:

• Lower energy density, for the same weight and volume, LFP stores less energy than NMC. This is why LFP-equipped vehicles typically have lower range numbers than NMC competitors of the same size.
• Reduced cold weather performance, LFP chemistry performs worse at low temperatures than NMC. In a Canadian winter, an LFP vehicle will show more range reduction in cold conditions than an equivalent NMC vehicle. This is a real consideration in Canada and is not something to dismiss.

BYD's specific contribution with the Blade Battery is the cell-to-pack architecture. Traditional battery packs put cells in modules, then stack modules in a pack. BYD eliminated the module layer, the cells go directly into the structural pack. This recovers the space lost to module packaging, partially compensating for LFP's lower energy density. The result is a battery that combines LFP's safety and longevity advantages with better volumetric efficiency than conventional LFP packs.

The nail penetration test BYD performed publicly on the Blade Battery, driving a nail through a fully charged cell and showing it did not catch fire, got a lot of attention, and the underlying chemistry supports the demonstration. It is not marketing theatre; LFP genuinely does not propagate thermal events the way NMC can.

For Canadian buyers specifically, the cold weather penalty on LFP is the number to watch. When BYD publishes Canadian-spec range figures, the winter range number will tell you more than the rated range. Budget for meaningful reduction in your first January with the car.

If you are considering a BYD and spend time in areas without reliable fast charging infrastructure, a portable Level 2 charger in the trunk is good insurance. You can use it at any NEMA 14-50 outlet, RV parks, campgrounds, certain commercial parking, and it dramatically expands your options on longer trips.

Should You Wait for BYD or Buy Something Else Now?

This is the actual question, and the answer depends on your situation more than any general recommendation can capture. But let's work through the decision framework honestly.

If you are replacing a car that is failing or gone right now:

Do not wait for BYD. There is no BYD dealership in Canada, no Canadian price and no launch date, the service network does not exist, and you have no way to test drive or evaluate the actual car in your actual conditions. Buying an unknown vehicle from an unestablished dealer network because the price looked good in a news article is not a good plan. Buy a known quantity, Kona Electric, Equinox EV, Model 3, Ioniq 5, that has Canadian service history and available parts.

If you have 6 to 12 months of flexibility:

Watch, but do not plan around a date. BYD has given none, and as of late October 2026 its Canadian site lists no passenger car, price or dealer. When a launch is real, it will show up on BYD's Canadian site and in Natural Resources Canada's fuel consumption ratings, and then you will be able to test drive, read Canadian owner reviews, and evaluate the service experience before committing.

If budget is the primary driver:

No one knows what a Seagull or Dolphin would cost in Canada, so there is no BYD budget number to wait for. The rebate-eligible cars you can buy now, such as the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt from $43,398, carry up to $5,000 off at the dealership in 2026, and the federal amount for a battery-electric car steps down to $4,000 in 2027.

If you are in BC or Quebec and rely on provincial rebates:

The provincial picture is narrower than it used to be. BC's Go Electric passenger-vehicle rebate has been paused since May 15, 2025, so a BC buyer's gap between a BYD and a rebate-eligible rival would be the federal $5,000 alone. Quebec's Roulez vert has no country-of-origin rule, so a China-built car on its list collects the same $2,000 as any other, but the program ends on December 31, 2026. In both provinces the federal rule decides it, and a Kona Electric that gets the federal incentive starts with that head start.

If the Doug Ford argument concerns you:

Make your own call on the data privacy question, but do not let political framing make it for you. If you use a Chinese-made smartphone, you are already in a comparable position from a data exposure standpoint. If you are genuinely concerned about state-level data access through connected vehicles, that concern applies broadly to all connected cars and deserves a full evaluation, not a boycott of one brand.

BYD's products are good, and its Canadian arrival has not been announced. The lack of rebate eligibility and the absence of a service network are the two concerns a Canadian buyer would face. Both become clearer once BYD publishes real Canadian MSRPs and names its dealers. Watching costs you nothing if you have the flexibility; planning a purchase around a BYD date that does not exist does.

Regardless of which EV you end up buying, a quality jump starter is worth having in the car, not because EVs die like ICE vehicles, but because 12-volt accessory batteries still fail in cold weather, and having one on hand is straightforward insurance.

What a BYD Arrival Would Mean for the Broader Canadian Market

BYD would not arrive in a vacuum. Its presence would change the competitive environment for every EV brand operating in Canada, and those second-order effects may matter as much as the direct question of whether to buy a BYD.

Canada's EV market was already under stress before any BYD dealer search began. The federal iZEV rebate was paused in January 2025 and formally closed that March, and buyers went about 13 months without a federal consumer rebate until EVAP opened on February 16, 2026. Add Tesla's brand crisis and the political weight it now carries, interest rate pressure on large purchases, and a general sense among consumers that the transition was moving faster than the infrastructure could support.

A BYD entry would add a new dynamic. A credible, affordable, well-engineered small EV does not compete primarily with Tesla or Hyundai's upper trims, it competes with the decision to keep your ICE vehicle. A city car like the Seagull is not a luxury purchase, it is a practical one. That segment has been almost completely absent from the Canadian market, and its absence has been one of the structural reasons EV adoption has remained concentrated among higher-income households.

If BYD succeeds in Canada, the other manufacturers will respond. They already have in Europe. Volkswagen cut prices. Stellantis accelerated affordable EV development. Hyundai pushed the Inster into new markets. Competition at the bottom of the price range forces the whole market to be more efficient. That is good for Canadian consumers regardless of whether you ever buy a BYD.

The 49,000-vehicle quota is also relevant here. In its first quota year it is far from full: 16,206 places used as of October 30, 2026, with no BYD passenger car among the vehicles on sale. If a BYD launch ever pushed the quota to its limit, there would be pressure on the federal government to revisit a framework that already grows the volume by 6.5% a year. That is a policy pressure point worth watching, particularly if the Canadian auto sector responds by accelerating domestic EV production to compete.

For Ontario specifically, Ford's boycott call creates an awkward dynamic. Ontario has the highest concentration of auto manufacturing jobs in Canada and a government that has been consistently hostile to policies it perceives as threatening that sector. A BYD entry in the GTA would be partly a bet that consumer demand overrides political pressure, which is generally how market entries work. Whether individual Ontario dealers are willing to take on a BYD franchise under that political environment is an open question.

The broader EV picture, including what other new brands are planning Canadian launches, is covered in New EV Brands Coming to Canada, which tracks the full pipeline beyond BYD.

The Questions You Should Be Asking Before BYD Opens Its Doors

There is a lot that is not yet known about BYD's Canadian operation, and these are the things to watch as the launch unfolds.

Where would the dealerships be, and how many?

GTA first comes from consultant Farid Ahmad's account to The Globe and Mail, not from BYD, which says it has not announced plans to open more than 20 dealerships. The specific locations, ownership structures, and service facility sizes matter for anyone evaluating long-term ownership. A dealership in Mississauga is a very different ownership experience than one in Barrie or Oshawa if you need warranty service or a recall addressed.

What are the actual Canadian MSRPs?

BYD has not published a Canadian MSRP for any model, and the one widely shared figure, a C$25,000 Seagull, was fabricated by an impostor account. When BYD does publish prices, those numbers will settle the competitive analysis. There is no announced date to watch for; watch BYD's Canadian site.

What warranty terms are on offer in Canada?

BYD offers competitive warranty terms in other markets, typically 6 to 8 years on the battery and 3 to 5 years on the vehicle. Canadian-specific warranty terms have not been announced. This matters enormously for a brand without an established Canadian reputation. A strong warranty is how you buy confidence from a buyer who is skeptical.

How will BYD handle cold weather?

LFP chemistry and Canadian winters are a known combination with known trade-offs. What matters is whether BYD has done cold-weather-specific engineering for the Canadian market, battery pre-conditioning, cold weather charging behaviour, heat pump integration, and what the real-world winter range figures look like in -20C conditions, not just the nominal range.

Who is doing the service work?

Independent dealers servicing Chinese-brand EVs is a new category in Canada. The technician training pipeline, parts availability, and turnaround time for warranty claims are all unknowns. In the early years of any new brand launch, service quality is inconsistent. Early adopters need to go in with that expectation.

What happens if the political environment shifts?

BYD would be launching into a Canada where the federal government changed the tariff framework, but where significant political opposition exists at the provincial level. If a future federal government reverses the tariff arrangement, the ownership experience for BYD buyers gets significantly more complicated in terms of parts supply, resale value, and service infrastructure continuity. This is a low-probability risk but not a zero one, and it is worth factoring into a long-term ownership decision.

Related Reading

• BYD's Canada Lineup: The Four Models, Each model's specs, range, and how they compare to current Canadian options
• What the Tariff Deal Really Means, The full policy breakdown: how the 6.1% rate works, what the quota means, and which other Chinese brands it affects
• Chinese EVs Entering Canada, BYD is not the only one. Here is the full picture of what is coming and when.
• New EV Brands Coming to Canada, The complete pipeline of new manufacturers planning Canadian launches in 2026 and beyond
• Compare EVs, Side-by-side comparison tool for EVs available in Canada, filterable by price, range, and incentive eligibility

Correction, October 31, 2026: An earlier version of this article said BYD had announced 20 Canadian dealerships opening in 2026, that its cars were registered for Canadian export with compliance work done, that the Seagull would cost about C$25,000, that the tariff changed on January 16, 2026 with higher duties above the quota, and that Quebec's Roulez vert excludes China-built cars. BYD has told Global News it has not announced Canadian launch plans, dealers or models; the 20-dealer figure is a consultant's account to The Globe and Mail, and the Seagull price came from an impostor account. The quota and 6.1% rate took effect on March 1, 2026, imports above the quota are not allowed at all, Appendix G is a border pre-clearance list rather than a sales approval, and Roulez vert has no country-of-origin rule.