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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''.
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This enactment replaces the Customs Tariff to simplify its
application. The key elements of the enactment are the following:
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(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;
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(b) rate reductions on a wide range of goods, mostly manufacturing
inputs;
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(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;
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(d) the replacement of the Machinery Remission Program with
duty-free and dutiable tariff provisions in the tariff schedule;
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(e) the rounding down of decimal rates and the elimination of most
rates that fall below two per cent;
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(f) the harmonization of rates on certain competing goods and the
rectification of certain tariff anomalies;
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(g) the elimination of a wide range of administrative procedures
associated with certain tariff provisions;
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(h) a single consolidated tariff schedule in a more modern and
flexible format; and
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(i) consequential and related amendments to other statutes, and
transitional provisions.
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