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Bill C-32

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RECOMMENDATION

Her 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 to implement the Free Trade Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Republic of Costa Rica''.

SUMMARY

This enactment implements the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Costa Rica (the Agreement), signed by the Minister for International Trade at Ottawa on April 23, 2001.

The general provisions of the enactment specify that no recourse may be taken on the basis of the provisions of Part 1 of the enactment or any order made under that Part, or the provisions of the Agreement itself, without the consent of the Attorney General of Canada.

Part 1 of the enactment approves the Agreement and provides for the designation or appointment of Ministers or other persons to carry out various functions of the Agreement, the payment by Canada of its share of the expenditures associated with the operation of the institutional aspects of the Agreement and the power of the Governor in Council to make regulations for carrying out the provisions of the enactment.

Part 2 of the enactment amends existing laws in order to bring them into conformity with Canada's obligations under the Agreement.

Part 3 of the enactment states that the Governor in Council may not issue an order bringing into force any of the provisions of the enactment until the Governor in Council is satisfied that Costa Rica has taken satisfactory steps to implement the Agreement.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act

Clause 19: (1) The definition ``textile and apparel goods'' in subsection 2(1) reads as follows:

``textile and apparel goods'' means the textile and apparel goods set out in Appendix 1.1 of Annex 300-B of the Agreement or in Appendix 1.1 of Annex C-00-B of the CCFTA, as the case may be;

(2) Subsection 2(4) reads as follows:

(4) For the purposes of this Act, goods are imported from a NAFTA country or from Chile if they are shipped directly to Canada from the NAFTA country or from Chile, as the case may be, within the meaning of sections 17 and 18 of the Customs Tariff.

Clause 20: New.

Clause 21: Section 21.1 reads as follows:

21.1 In sections 23 to 30, ``complaint'' means a written complaint filed with the Tribunal under subsection 23(1), (1.01), (1.02), (1.03), (1.04), (1.05) or (1.06), and, for the purposes of those sections, a complaint is properly documented if the Tribunal is satisfied that it contains or is accompanied by the information required by section 23.

Clause 22: New.

Clause 23: The relevant portion of subsection 25(2) reads as follows:

(2) Where the Tribunal determines under subsection (1) that a complaint is properly documented, it shall forthwith

    . . .

    (c) in the case of a complaint filed under subsection 23(1.03) or (1.06), send to the Minister a copy of the complaint and the information examined by the Tribunal in making its determination.

Clause 24: (1) New.

(2) Subsection 26(2.1) reads as follows:

(2.1) Notwithstanding subsection (2), in the case of a complaint filed under subsection 23(1.03) or (1.06), the Tribunal shall send to the Minister only a copy of its decision and a copy of any relevant information examined by the Tribunal in relation to the complaint that was not previously sent to the Minister under subsection 25(2).

Clause 25: New.

Customs Act

Clause 26: (1) The definitions ``free trade agreement'' and ``free trade partner'' in subsection 2(1) read as follows:

``free trade agreement'' means NAFTA, CCFTA or CIFTA;

``free trade partner'' means

      (a) a NAFTA country,

      (b) Chile, or

      (c) Israel or another CIFTA beneficiary;

(2) New.

(3) The relevant portion of subsection 2(1.2) reads as follows:

(1.2) For the purposes of this Act, a reference to preferential tariff treatment under a free trade agreement shall be read as a reference to whichever of the following is applicable in the circumstances:

    . . .

    (c) preferential tariff treatment under CIFTA.

Clause 27: Sections 42.3 and 42.4 read as follows:

42.3 (1) In this section, ``customs administration'' has the meaning assigned to that expression by Article 514 of NAFTA or Article E-14 of CCFTA, as the case may be.

(2) Subject to subsection (4), a re-determination or further re-determination of origin does not take effect until notice of it is given to the importer of the goods and any person who completed and signed a Certificate of Origin for the goods if the result of the re-determination or further re-determination of origin made under subsection 59(1) in respect of goods for which preferential tariff treatment under NAFTA or preferential tariff treatment under CCFTA is claimed and that are the subject of a verification of origin under this Act is that

    (a) the goods are not eligible for that preferential tariff treatment on the basis of the tariff classification or value of one or more materials used in their production; and

    (b) that tariff classification or value differs from the tariff classification or value applied to those materials by the NAFTA country from which the goods were exported or from Chile, as the case may be.

(3) A re-determination or further re-determination of origin referred to in subsection (2) shall not be applied to goods imported before the date on which the notice was given if the customs administration of the NAFTA country from which the goods were exported or of Chile, as the case may be, has, before that date,

    (a) given an advance ruling under Article 509 of NAFTA or Article E-09 of CCFTA, as the case may be, or given another ruling referred to in paragraph 12 of Article 506 of NAFTA or paragraph 12 of Article E-06 of CCFTA, as the case may be, on the tariff classification or value of the materials referred to in subsection (2); or

    (b) given consistent treatment with respect to the tariff classification or value of the materials referred to in subsection (2) on their importation into the NAFTA country or Chile, as the case may be.

(4) The date on which a re-determination or further re-determination of origin referred to in subsection (2) takes effect shall be postponed for a period not exceeding ninety days if the importer of the goods that are the subject of the re-determination or further re-determination, or any person who completed and signed a Certificate of Origin for the goods, establishes to the satisfaction of the Minister that the importer or the person, as the case may be, has relied in good faith, to the detriment of the importer or person, on the tariff classification or value applied to the materials referred to in that subsection by the customs administration of the NAFTA country from which the goods were exported or of Chile, as the case may be.

Denial or Withdrawal of Benefit of Preferential Tariff Treatment under NAFTA or CCFTA

42.4 (1) In this section, ``identical goods'' has the meaning assigned to that expression by Article 514 of NAFTA or Article E-14 of CCFTA, as the case may be.

(2) Notwithstanding section 24 of the Customs Tariff, the Minister may, subject to the prescribed conditions, deny or withdraw preferential tariff treatment under NAFTA or preferential tariff treatment under CCFTA in respect of goods for which that treatment is claimed if the exporter or producer of the goods has made false representations that identical goods exported or produced by that exporter or producer and for which that treatment was claimed were eligible for that treatment.

Clause 28: The relevant portion of subsection 43.1(1) reads as follows:

43.1 (1) Any officer, or any officer within a class of officers, designated by the Minister for the purposes of this section shall, before goods are imported, on application by any member of a prescribed class that is made within the prescribed time, in the prescribed manner and in the prescribed form containing the prescribed information, give an advance ruling with respect to

    . . .

    (b) in the case of goods exported from a NAFTA country or from Chile, any other matter concerning those goods that is set out in paragraph 1 of Article 509 of NAFTA or in paragraph 1 of Article E-09 of CCFTA, as the case may be.

Clause 29: The relevant portion of subsection 74(1) reads as follows:

74. (1) Subject to this section, section 75 and any regulations made under section 81, a person who paid duties on any imported goods may, in accordance with subsection (3), apply for a refund of all or part of those duties, and the Minister may grant to that person a refund of all or part of those duties, if

    . . .

    (c.11) the goods were imported from Israel or another CIFTA beneficiary but no claim for preferential tariff treatment under CIFTA was made in respect of those goods at the time they are accounted for under subsection 32(1), (3) or (5);

Clause 30: New.

Customs Tariff

Clause 31: New.

Clause 32: Section 5 reads as follows:

5. For the purposes of this Act, goods are imported from a NAFTA country or Chile if they are shipped directly to Canada from the NAFTA country or Chile, as the case may be.

Clause 33: The relevant portion of subsection 14(2) reads as follows:

(2) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, by order, amend the List of Tariff Provisions and the ``F'' Staging List to reduce a rate of customs duty on goods imported from a country, and to make other amendments consequential thereto,

    . . .

    (c) by way of compensation for any action taken under subsection 55(1), section 60 or subsection 63(1), 69(2), 70(2), 71(2), 72(1), 75(1) or 76(1) or under subsection 5(3), (3.2) or (4.1) of the Export and Import Permits Act.

Clause 34: (1) The relevant portion of subsection 16(2) reads as follows:

(2) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations

    (a) respecting the origin of goods, including regulations

      (i) deeming goods, the whole or a portion of which is produced outside a country, to originate in that country for the purposes of this Act or any other Act of Parliament, subject to such conditions as are specified in the regulations, and

      (ii) for determining when goods originate in a country for the purposes of this Act or any other Act of Parliament; and

(2) New.

(3) New. The relevant portion of subsection 16(4) reads as follows:

(4) The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister, make regulations for the uniform interpretation, application and administration of

Clause 35: The relevant portion of subsection 24(1) reads as follows:

24. (1) Unless otherwise provided in an order made under subsection (2) or otherwise specified in a tariff item, goods are entitled to a tariff treatment, other than the General Tariff, under this Act only if

    . . .

    (b) the goods are entitled to that tariff treatment in accordance with regulations made under section 16 or an order made under paragraph 31(1)(a), 34(1)(a), 38(1)(a) or 42(1)(a), subsection 45(13) or section 48.

Clause 36: Section 27 reads as follows:

27. For the purposes of the List of Tariff Provisions and the ``F'' Staging List, the abbreviations ``UST'', ``MT'', ``MUST'', ``CT'', ``CIAT'', ``GPT'', ``LDCT'', ``CCCT'', ``AUT'' and ``NZT'' refer, respectively, to ``United States Tariff'', ``Mexico Tariff'', ``Mexico - United States Tariff'', ``Chile Tariff'', ``Canada - Israel Agreement Tariff'', ``General Preferential Tariff'', ``Least Developed Country Tariff'', ``Commonwealth Caribbean Countries Tariff'', ``Australia Tariff'' and ``New Zealand Tariff''.

Clause 37: New.

Clause 38: New.

Clause 39: New.

Clause 40: Section 79 reads as follows:

79. An order made under subsection 53(2) or 55(1), section 60 or subsection 63(1), 69(2), 70(2), 72(1), 75(1) or 76(1) may provide that goods that are in transit to Canada at the time the order comes into force are entitled to the tariff treatment that was applicable to those goods immediately before that time.

Clause 41: The definition ``customs duties'' in section 80 reads as follows:

``customs duties'', other than for the purposes of sections 95 and 96, means customs duties imposed under Part 2, other than surtaxes imposed under section 53, 55, 60, 63, 68 or 78 or temporary duties imposed under any of sections 69 to 76.

Clause 42: Subsection 94(1) reads as follows:

94. (1) In sections 95 and 96, ``customs duties'' means customs duties imposed under Part 2, other than additional customs duties levied under section 21, surtaxes imposed under section 53, 55, 60, 63, 68 or 78 or temporary duties imposed under any of sections 69 to 76.

Clause 43: The relevant portion of section 99 reads as follows:

99. The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister of National Revenue, make regulations

    (a) prescribing, for the purposes of section 89,

    . . .

      (iii) the circumstances in which, and the classes of goods in respect of which, relief of duties levied under section 21 or under the Special Import Measures Act, a surtax imposed under section 53, 55, 60, 63, 68 or 78, a temporary duty imposed under any of sections 69 to 76, a tax levied under the Excise Tax Act or a duty imposed under the Excise Act may not be granted,

Clause 44: The relevant portion of subsection 113(4) reads as follows:

(4) For the purposes of this section, the Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister of National Revenue, make regulations prescribing

    (a) the circumstances in which, and the classes of goods in respect of which, a refund or drawback of duties levied under section 21 or under the Special Import Measures Act, a surtax levied under section 53, 55, 60, 63, 68 or 78, a temporary duty levied under any of sections 69 to 76, a tax levied under the Excise Tax Act or a duty levied under the Excise Act may not be granted under subsection (1);

Clause 45 : The relevant portion of section 133 reads as follows:

133. The Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the Minister of National Revenue, make regulations

. . .

    (j) for the purpose of tariff item No. 9971.00.00 or 9992.00.00, prescribing conditions under which goods that have been exported to a free trade partner for repair or alteration may be imported;

Export and Import Permits Act

Clause 47: (1) New.

(2) Subsection 2(2) reads as follows:

(2) For the purposes of this Act, goods are imported from a NAFTA country or from Chile if they are shipped directly to Canada from the NAFTA country or from Chile, as the case may be, within the meaning of sections 17 and 18 of the Customs Tariff.

Clause 48: Subsections 5.2(1) and (2) read as follows:

5.2 (1) If at any time it appears to the satisfaction of the Governor in Council that it is advisable to collect information with respect to the exportation or importation of any goods in respect of which a specified quantity is eligible each year for the rate of duty provided for in the Schedules to Annex 302.2 of NAFTA in accordance with Appendix 6 of Annex 300-B of NAFTA or for the rate of duty provided for in the Schedules to Annex C-02.2 of CCFTA in accordance with Appendix 5.1 of Annex C-00-B of CCFTA, as the case may be, the Governor in Council may, by order and without reference to that quantity, include those goods on the Export Control List or the Import Control List, or on both, in order to facilitate the collection of that information.

(2) If at any time it appears to the satisfaction of the Governor in Council that, for the purposes of implementing NAFTA or CCFTA, it is advisable to collect information with respect to the importation into Canada of any goods listed in Appendix 1.1 of Annex 300-B of NAFTA or in Appendix 1.1 of Annex C-00-B of CCFTA, as the case may be, the Governor in Council may, by order, include those goods on the Import Control List in order to facilitate the collection of that information.

Clause 49: Paragraph 6.1(2)(c) is new. Section 6.1 reads as follows:

6.1 (1) In this section, ``originating goods'' means goods that are entitled under the Customs Tariff to the United States Tariff, the Mexico Tariff, the Mexico - United States Tariff or the Chile Tariff.

(2) If at any time it appears to the satisfaction of the Minister that any goods that are referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) and are not originating goods are being imported from a NAFTA country or from Chile, as the case may be, in such increased quantities, measured in absolute terms or relative to the domestic market, and under such conditions as to cause serious damage or actual threat of serious damage to domestic producers of like or directly competitive goods, the Minister may take the measures set out

    (a) in the case of goods listed in Appendix 1.1 of Annex 300-B of NAFTA that are imported from a NAFTA country, in section 5 of that Annex in relation to those goods; and

    (b) in the case of goods listed in Appendix 1.1 of Annex C-00-B of CCFTA that are imported from Chile, in section 4 of that Annex in relation to those goods.

(3) In determining whether the conditions referred to in subsection (2) exist, the Minister shall have regard to paragraph 2 of section 4 of Annex 300-B of NAFTA or paragraph 2 of section 3 of Annex C-00-B of CCFTA, as the case may be.

Clause 50: Paragraph 9.1(c) is new. Section 9.1 reads as follows:

9.1 The Minister may, for the purpose of implementing an intergovernmental arrangement with a NAFTA country respecting the administration of Appendix 6 to Annex 300-B of NAFTA, or with Chile respecting the administration of Appendix 5.1 to Annex C-00-B of CCFTA, issue a certificate with respect to an exportation of goods to the NAFTA country or to Chile, as the case may be, stating the specific quantity of those goods that

    (a) in the case of an exportation of goods to the NAFTA country, on importation into the NAFTA country is eligible for the rate of duty provided for in the Schedules to Annex 302.2 of NAFTA in accordance with Appendix 6 to Annex 300-B of NAFTA; and

    (b) in the case of an exportation of goods to Chile, on importation into Chile is eligible for the rate of duty provided for in the Schedules to Annex C-02.2 of CCFTA in accordance with Appendix 5.1 to Annex C-00-B of CCFTA.

Financial Administration Act

Clause 51: New.

Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act

Clause 52: New.

Clause 53: (1) New. The relevant portion of subsection 3(2) reads as follows:

(2) The provisions of subsection (1) do not apply to

(2) Subsection 3(3) reads as follows:

(3) The Governor in Council may, for the purposes of paragraph (2)(b.01), (b.02) or (b.1), make regulations defining the expressions ``distilled spirits'', ``in bulk'' and ``bottling''.

National Energy Board Act

Clause 54: The relevant portion of subsection 119.01(2) reads as follows:

(2) The Governor in Council may make regulations

    . . .

    (b) exempting oil or gas that is exported to a NAFTA country, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, or to Chile, or any quality, kind or class of that oil or gas or type of service in relation thereto, from the application of regulations made under paragraph a).

Clause 55: New.

Clause 56: Subsections 120.1(1) and (2) read as follows:

120.1 (1) In exercising its powers and performing its duties, the Board shall give effect to NAFTA and CCFTA.

(2) The Governor in Council may, either on the recommendation of the Minister made at the request of the Board or on the Governor in Council's own motion, make orders of general application respecting the manner in which the Board shall perform the duty imposed on it by subsection (1) or the interpretation to be given to NAFTA or CCFTA by the Board for the purposes of this Act.

Clause 57: Sections 120.2 and 120.3 read as follows:

120.2 The Governor in Council may, by order, declare that the maintenance or introduction of a restriction on the exportation to the United States or Chile of energy goods or of any quality, kind or class of energy goods is justified under Article 605 of NAFTA or Article C-13 of CCFTA, as the case may be.

120.3 If, in the course of determining an application for a licence or permit, or determining whether to make an order, for the exportation to the United States or Chile of energy goods or of any quality, kind or class of energy goods, the Board considers that the maintenance or introduction of a restriction on that exportation is in the public interest and that subparagraph (a), (b) or (c) of Article 605 of NAFTA or subparagraph 1(a), (b) or (c) of Article C-13 of CCFTA, as the case may be, would apply as a consequence of the restriction, the Board may, in order to request that the Minister recommend to the Governor in Council that an order be made under section 120.2 in respect of the relevant energy goods, suspend the determination until not later than one hundred and twenty days after the request is made.

Clause 58: Subsections 120.4(1) and (2) read as follows:

120.4 (1) The Board may neither refuse to issue a licence or permit or make an order nor revoke, suspend or vary a licence, permit or order for the exportation to the United States or Chile of energy goods or of any quality, kind or class of energy goods if that refusal, revocation, suspension or variation would constitute the maintenance or introduction of a restriction on that exportation as a consequence of which subparagraph (a), (b) or (c) of Article 605 of NAFTA or subparagraph 1(a), (b) or (c) of Article C-13 of CCFTA, as the case may be, would apply.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of the exportation to the United States or Chile of such energy goods as are, or of such quality, kind or class of energy goods as is, referred to in an order made under section 120.2 during the time that the order is in force.

Clause 59: The relevant portion of section 120.5 reads as follows:

120.5 The Board may, despite its not being satisfied in accordance with paragraph 118(a), issue a licence for the exportation to the United States or Chile of such energy goods as were, or of such quality, kind or class of energy goods as was, referred to in a request made under section 120.3 if