The Government of Canada is outlining a framework and process for how it will consider remission requests for the surtaxes on products that came into force on July 1, 2018. Under specific circumstances, remission allows for relief from the payment of surtaxes, or the refund of surtaxes already paid.
Remission represents an exception to the rules by providing for relief of otherwise applicable duties. As such, remission is only used to address exceptional and compelling circumstances that, from a public policy perspective, are found to outweigh the primary rationale behind the application of duties and, in the current case, surtaxes.
In relation to requests for remission of the surtaxes announced on June 29, 2018 that took effect on July 1, 2018, the Government will consider requests for remission of surtaxes only in the following instances:
- To address situations of short supply in the domestic market, either on a national or regional basis.
- Where there are contractual requirements, existing prior to May 31, 2018, for Canadian businesses to use U.S. steel or aluminum in their products or projects.
- To address, on a case-by-case basis, other exceptional circumstances that could have severe adverse impacts on the Canadian economy.
Any request for remission will be considered by a federal inter-departmental committee, which will be tasked with making recommendations. Any request for remission could be subject to consultation with other interested parties, including domestic producers. Recommendations will be made by the interdepartmental committee to the Minister of Finance. Under section 115 of the Customs Tariff, the Minister of Finance has the authority to recommend remission to the Governor in Council. To take effect, an Order in Council also needs to be approved by the Governor in Council.
In order to ensure that remission requests are properly substantiated and can be assessed in a timely manner, all requests that are within the confines of the instances outlined above must provide the information requested in the template. Any information that is confidential must be marked as such, and will be protected by the Government of Canada. Sufficient non-confidential information must be provided to allow for engagement with domestic producers so that they may be consulted, as appropriate, on any short supply issues that are raised. Only companies registered in Canada are eligible to make requests for remission of the surtaxes imposed as of July 1, 2018.
Please submit any inquiries or remission requests to fin.remissions-remises.fin@canada.ca
View the Framework and process for the remission and template for submissions.