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One of the more difficult things I have run into in my 35+ years of practice in customs, trade, and indirect tax, is navigating through extremely difficult to understand appeals processes, buried in multiple similar and parallel sections in the Customs Act (“Act”).
A recent case makes me think that I am not alone in this world (!), with the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (“CITT”) chastising the Canada Border Service Agency (“CBSA”) for misunderstanding and potentially misapplying the customs appeal processes.
Given Chief Justice Wagner’s recent comments about people forming critical opinions without reading the underlying courts’ judgement, let’s take a look at this seemingly paradoxical decision.
On May 7, 2024, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the “CITT”) issued a preliminary determination of injury, concluding that there was evidence that the alleged dumping of certain wire rod from China, Egypt and Vietnam has caused material injury to the domestic industry.
Background Information
On March 11, 2024, following the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency (the “CBSA”), the CITT initiated a preliminary injury inquiry in respect of alleged dumping of wire rod, which we covered in a previous blog post.
On May 3, 2024, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) issued a Notice of Initiation of Investigation under the Special Import Measures Act (“SIMA”) in respect of the alleged dumping of certain concrete reinforcing bar from Bulgaria, Thailand and the UAE. This investigation was prompted by a joint complaint filed by three steel manufacturers.
The goods under investigation are more specifically described as:
On March 8, 2024, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) issued a Notice of Initiation of Investigation under the Special Import Measures Act (“SIMA”) in respect of the alleged dumping of certain wire rod from China, Egypt, and Vietnam. This investigation was prompted by a complaint filed by an Ontario manufacturer.
The goods under investigation are more specifically described as:
Certain hot‐rolled wire rod of carbon steel and alloy steel of circular or approximately circular cross section, in coils, equal to or less than 25.5 mm in actual solid cross‐sectional diameter, originating in or exported from the People’s Republic of China, the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (the “Subject Goods”).
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (“CITT”) announced anOrder in Expiry Review RR-2021-005 on December 29, 2022 (“Order”), continuing its order made on April 7, 2017, in expiry review RR-2016-001, in respect of the dumping of Pup Joints products from the People’s Republic of China (“Subject Goods”).
What is an Expiry Review
Expiry Reviews are conducted jointly by the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) and the CITT to review prior Anti-Dumping Duty (“ADD”) or Countervailing Duty (“CVD”) orders made by the CITT (“Orders”) under Special Import Measures Act (“SIMA”). These Expiry Reviews generally occur every five years following the original Orders or a subsequent renewal.
On January 18, 2024, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) issue a Notice of Conclusion in the ongoing Expiry Review of Carbon Steel Welded Pipe 2 (“CSWP-2”) exported from the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu (“Chinese Taipei”), India, Oman, South Korea, Thailand and the UAE (“Subject Goods”). The CBSA determined that the expiry of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal’s (“CITT”) order dated October 15, 2018, in Expiry ReviewRR‑2017‑005, is likely to result in the continuation or resumption of (i) dumping of Subject Goods (from all the above-noted countries) and (ii) subsidizing of Subject Goods (exported from India). A detailed Statement of Reasons for this determination was released on February 02, 2024.
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (“CITT”) has announced an Expiry Review in respect of the dumping of corrosion-resistant flat-rolled steel sheet products of carbon steel from China, Chinese Taipei, India and the Republic of Korea.
What is an Expiry Review
Expiry Reviews are conducted jointly by the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) and the CITT to review prior Anti-Dumping Duty (“ADD”) or Countervailing Duty (“CVD”) orders made by the CITT (“Orders”) under Special Import Measures Act (“SIMA”). These Expiry Reviews generally occur every five years following the original Orders or subsequent renewal.
The CITT has announced an Expiry Review of its finding made on February 15th, 2019 (NQ-2018-003) in respect of Carbon Steel Welded Pipe from Pakistan, the Philippines, Türkiye and Vietnam.
What is an Expiry Review
Expiry reviews are conducted jointly by the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (“CITT”) to review prior Anti-Dumping Duty (“ADD”) or Countervailing Duty (“CVD”) orders made by the CITT (“Orders”) under Special Import Measures Act (“SIMA”). They generally occur every five years following the original Order or subsequent renewal.
On October 27, 2023, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) issued a notice of conclusion of Expedited Review in respect of certain Chinese upholstered domestic seating (“UDS”) from Eterno Co. Ltd. (“Eterno”) and Zhe Jiang Shengli Furniture Co., Ltd. (“Shengli”) (the “Exporters”).
Background
The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the “CITT”) concluded an Investigation into certain UDS from China and Vietnam, and issued a Finding on September 2, 2021 that the dumping and subsidizing of said UDS had caused injury to the domestic (Canadian) industry, resulting in the imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties subject to exclusions and inclusions specifically identified by CBSA.
Georgian Bay Leisure Distributors Ltd., 2022 CanLII 139059 (CA CITT) (“Georgian Bay”)is a CITT case highlighting the complexities of tariff classification when importing goods to Canada.!
Background
When importing commercial goods to Canada, there are three things any importer needs to address from a customs compliance perspective:
On October 5, 2023, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (“CITT”) issued its order in respect of an Expiry Review of a previous Order made on February 8, 2018, continuing the Order’s finding of dumping and subsidizing of stainless steel sinks from the People’s Republic of China (“China”).
The CITT more specifically described the Subject Goods as:
