RECOMMENDATION

His Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances, in the manner and for the purposes set out in a measure entitled ``An Act respecting the imposition of duties of customs and other charges, to give effect to the International Convention on the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System, to provide relief against the imposition of certain duties of customs or other charges, to provide for other related matters and to amend or repeal certain Acts in consequence thereof''.

SUMMARY

This enactment replaces the Customs Tariff to simplify its application. The key elements of the enactment are the following:

    (a) rationalization of the provisions, such as by deleting provisions that are no longer relevant, and the addition of new provisions, such as expanded authority for the Governor in Council to reduce duties on inputs for manufacturing and service sectors and a transitional authority to correct errors and omissions that may have been made in the development of the new tariff schedule;

    (b) rate reductions on a wide range of goods, mostly manufacturing inputs;

    (c) the elimination of a large number of concessionary tariff codes and regulations and the conversion of many others to regular provisions in the tariff schedule;

    (d) the replacement of the Machinery Remission Program with duty-free and dutiable tariff provisions in the tariff schedule;

    (e) the rounding down of decimal rates and the elimination of most rates that fall below two per cent;

    (f) the harmonization of rates on certain competing goods and the rectification of certain tariff anomalies;

    (g) the elimination of a wide range of administrative procedures associated with certain tariff provisions;

    (h) a single consolidated tariff schedule in a more modern and flexible format; and

    (i) consequential and related amendments to other statutes, and transitional provisions.