Annual Report March 31, 2011 - Chapter I

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal is an administrative tribunal operating within Canada's trade remedy system. It provides Canadian and international businesses with access to fair, transparent and timely processes for the investigation of trade remedy cases and complaints concerning federal government procurement and for the adjudication of appeals on customs and excise tax matters. At the request of the Government, the Tribunal provides advice in tariff, trade, commercial and economic matters.

In 2010-2011, the Tribunal issued decisions in more than 200 cases. The Tribunal members and staff successfully managed a substantial and complex caseload involving a total of 258 participants, 82 witnesses and more than 108,000 pages of official record.

Although the Tribunal experienced a decline in the number of new anti-dumping investigations, a situation which is in line with a worldwide trend reported by the World Trade Organization (WTO) for the first half of 2010, the activities relating to public procurement complaints and appeals under the Customs Act, the Special Import Measures Act (SIMA) and the Excise Tax Act remained strong.

In an effort to improve client services, the Tribunal successfully launched the electronic distribution of its records in SIMA cases using a secure encrypted USB key, which now allows counsel to access and search all documents on record. This new initiative has made the Tribunal more environmentally friendly and has reduced operating costs.

On October 1, 2010, the Chairperson of the Tribunal, Mr. André F. Scott, was appointed to the Federal Court. The Tribunal would like to thank Mr. Scott for his excellent work, as well as for the leadership and dedication that he demonstrated during his time with the Tribunal, which he joined in February 2008.

Pursuant to section 8 of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act (CITT Act), when the office of chairperson is vacant, the Tribunal may authorize one of the vice-chairpersons to act as chairperson, exercising and performing all the powers, duties and functions of the position. The two vice-chairpersons of the Tribunal, Mr. Serge Fréchette and Ms. Diane Vincent, have served as acting chairpersons on a rotational basis since Mr. Scott's departure.

In February 2010, Mrs. Ellen Fry's second term as member of the Tribunal expired. She had been a member of the Tribunal since 2001. The Tribunal wishes to acknowledge her significant contribution to the work of the Tribunal during those nine years.

Trade Remedies

The Tribunal plays a significant role within Canada's trade remedy system. Under SIMA, the Tribunal determines whether the dumping and subsidizing of imported goods cause injury or threaten to cause injury to a domestic industry. During 2010-2011, the Tribunal issued decisions in two preliminary injury inquiries and in two final injury inquiries. The estimated value of the Canadian market for the two final injury inquiries conducted by the Tribunal represented more than $393 million. The Tribunal also issued a determination further to a remand decision of the Federal Court of Appeal. It received two requests to conduct public interest inquiries and one request for an interim review of the Tribunal's findings pursuant to SIMA. The Tribunal also issued two orders on expiry reviews. At the end of the fiscal year, one expiry review and one final injury inquiry were in progress.

Procurement Review

The Tribunal received 94 new procurement complaints. It rendered decisions in 157 cases, which included 72 cases that had been in progress at the end of fiscal year 2009-2010 and 1 case subsequent to a remand decision from the Federal Court of Appeal.

Appeals

During the fiscal year 2010-2011, a total of 70 new appeals were filed with the Tribunal pursuant to SIMA and the Customs Act. The Tribunal issued decisions on 31 appeals from decisions of the President of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Minister of National Revenue pursuant to the Customs Act and the Excise Tax Act.

Outreach Activities

During the fiscal year, Tribunal members and staff made presentations to various international, legal, administrative and academic bodies. The Tribunal also hosted official delegations from Ethiopia, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Vietnam, the People's Republic of China (China) and the Republic of Korea (Korea). The Tribunal also works in cooperation with other government entities as part of its mandate.

Caseload

The first table below contains statistics pertaining to the Tribunal's caseload for 2010-2011. The second table contains statistics relating to other case activities in 2010-2011. These statistics illustrate the complexity and diversity of the cases considered by the Tribunal.