|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
            
|
|
ESTIMATES A REPORT ON PLANS AND PRIORITIES
Download full document in MS Word format, compressed - zip (20K) through FTP Download full document in Adobe Acrobat format (50K) through FTP Download full document in MS Word format, compressed - zip (20K) through HTTP Download full document in Adobe Acrobat format (50K) through HTTP
Canadian International Trade Tribunal Approved Section I: MessagesA. The Chair's MessageI am pleased to present the Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP) of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the Tribunal) for fiscal year 1999-2000. The Tribunal is a key player within Canada's trade remedy system as a result of its jurisdiction under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements, the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement and the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement. As mentioned in last year's RPP, the Tribunal has initiated a number of measures that are aimed at streamlining its activities and at ensuring that it can continue to support a fair, open and competitive international trading system. These measures were developed in consultation with the Tribunal's stakeholders. In light of the results achieved, efforts will be pursued in order to ensure that any firm, irrespective of its size, can have access to the trade remedies for which the Tribunal has responsibility under various statutes and trade agreements. The Tribunal's RPP for 1999-2000 reflects its continued commitment to this strategic objective and the maintenance of the quality of the Tribunal's findings, determinations and recommendations. The likely proclamation of legislative amendments to the Special Import Measures Act and to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act during fiscal year 1999-2000 will require the Tribunal to adapt its operations to accommodate these legislative amendments. As it has done in the past when new jurisdictions were assigned to it, the Tribunal will be up to the challenge.
B. Management Representation
Section II: Departmental OverviewA. Mandate, Role and ResponsibilitiesThe Tribunal derives its authority from the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act (the CITT Act), which received Royal Assent on September 13, 1988. The Tribunal's mandate is to: · conduct inquiries into whether dumped or subsidized imports have caused material injury or retardation or are threatening to cause material injury to a domestic industry; The Tribunal is a key player within Canada's trade remedy system. In its quasi-judicial role, the Tribunal protects Canadian producers from two important forms of unfair competition originating in foreign countries: injurious dumping and subsidizing. The Tribunal also acts as a court of easy access for appeals from Revenue Canada decisions on customs and excise matters and for complaints regarding designated government procurements. In its advisory role, the Tribunal assists the government, through its fact-finding inquiries, in the formulation of strategies aimed at making Canadian producers more competitive in the global trade environment. Through its standing reference on textile tariff relief, the Tribunal assists the government in determining the levels of tariffs that will ensure that economic gains for Canada are maximized in an industry that faces changing market conditions. With the emergence of a freer and more open trading system, Canada must increasingly rely on a fair and efficient trade remedy system. Through its various jurisdictions, the Tribunal contributes to the maintenance of a healthy Canadian economy and to fair trading relations with Canada's trade partners. B. ObjectiveThe objective of the Tribunal's business line is to provide a fair and efficient trade remedy system to the Canadian public, the private business sector and commercial interests, and to offer the government, through the Tribunal's fact-finding inquiries and standing reference, the best advice available so that it can formulate strategies aimed at making Canadian producers more competitive in the global trade environment. C. Operating EnvironmentThe Tribunal is an independent quasi-judicial body that carries out its statutory responsibilities in an autonomous and impartial manner. It reports to Parliament through the Minister of Finance. The Tribunal is composed of up to nine full-time members, including a Chair and two Vice-Chairs, who are appointed by the Governor in Council for up to a term of five years. As a quasi-judicial organization, the Tribunal is not involved in activities other than those assigned to it by statute. The Tribunal does not generally control its workload, as the demand for its services is externally generated in accordance with the provisions of various statutes. Priority setting is done in accordance with the deadlines set in the various statutes. Diversified Mandate of the Tribunal The diversified mandate of the Tribunal distinguishes it from the majority of federal tribunals and boards that have a single mandate. The Tribunal, on the other hand, has a mandate which comprises five components: dumping and subsidizing, appeals of Revenue Canada decisions, government procurement, textile and inquiries into economic, trade and tariff issues. This diversified mandate constitutes a major challenge as the Tribunal must coordinate its activities in order to complete cases filed with it within prescribed deadlines that is why the Tribunal must be able to rely on competent and versatile staff to assist members in their deliberations. The economic climate is a key external factor affecting the work of the Tribunal related to dumping and subsidizing. Downturns in the domestic and global economies usually lead to the deterioration of markets and to increased competition for the remaining business. At such times, domestic producers become increasingly sensitive to competition from imports and increasingly likely to seek protection against them. This generally leads to a larger number of inquiries in response to dumping and/or subsidizing complaints under SIMA. The work of the Tribunal under SIMA is of special interest and importance to domestic producers, importers and exporters, to the primary industrial and service sectors of the economy, as well as to counsel and consultants active in trade matters. NAFTA, the AIT and the AGP require signatory governments to maintain an independent bid challenge (complaint) authority. The CITT Act establishes the Tribunal as the complaint authority for Canada. As the bid challenge authority for federal government procurement, the Tribunal determines whether the government institution responsible for the procurement under review has met the requirements of international and national trade agreements and Canadian legislation. The work of the Tribunal is therefore of interest to potential suppliers as well as to federal departments and agencies, and crown corporations covered by NAFTA, the AIT and/or the AGP. Furthermore, the Canada-Israël Free Trade Agreement and the Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement have provisions by which global safeguard inquiries in respect of goods imported from Israël and Chile can be conducted by the Tribunal. The Tribunal also hears appeals of Revenue Canada decisions made under the Customs Act, the Excise Tax Act and SIMA. The work of the Tribunal in this area has an impact on Canadian taxpayers, businesses, customs brokers and counsel involved in trade matters. Pursuant to a reference from the Minister of Finance, the Tribunal investigates requests from domestic producers for tariff relief on imported textile inputs for use in their manufacturing operations and makes recommendations in respect of those requests to the Minister of Finance. The work of the Tribunal under the textile reference is therefore of interest and importance to the apparel and textile sectors of the economy. Finally, the CITT Act contains broad provisions under which the government or the Minister of Finance may ask the Tribunal to conduct an inquiry on any economic, trade, tariff or commercial matter. In an inquiry, the Tribunal acts in an advisory capacity, with powers to conduct research, receive submissions and representations, find facts, hold public hearings and report, with recommendations as required, to the government or the Minister of Finance. Through these references, the work of the Tribunal is of interest and importance to key sectors of the Canadian economy. Information Technology Since the beginning of its operations in December 1998, the Tribunal has been committed to making optimal use of information technology in its operations. Through the years, the Tribunal has put in place an office suite that allows it to concentrate its human resources on higher value added tasks. The Tribunal has also developed a number of databases and applications which allow for the efficient management of the different components of its mandate. The Tribunal recognizes the importance of using information technology to provide access to its decisions and publications to various groups of stakeholders. In this regard, the Tribunal has developed a sophisticated Web site which has been in operation for a few years. The site provides access to a complete repository of decisions rendered by the Tribunal. Those interested in the activities of the Tribunal may be informed through e-mail when new documents are added to the Tribunal's Web site. Our innovations have increased the public's awareness of the Tribunal's activities and services and allowed the Tribunal to reduce significantly its operating expenditures related to the reproduction and mailing of various documents. Furthermore, the Tribunal has used videoconferencing technology as a substitute to regional hearings. This initiative allows Canadian taxpayers to have their "day in court" without the expenses associated with an Ottawa hearing. It also allows the Tribunal to deal expeditiously with these appeals and avoid the growth of the backlog of appeals to be heard. Always in search of innovative approaches by which the efficiency of its operations can be improved, the Tribunal is undertaking an initiative aimed at automating the official administrative record in its proceedings. This initiative contemplates the scanning of all documents making up the official administrative record in an inquiry and its storage on optical support (CD-ROM). This initiative will make the consultation of the official administrative record more efficient and more expeditious. The Tribunal plans to use this application of information technology in the hearing room as a mean of better managing hearing time. The Tribunal is also studying the feasibility of using secured communications for the exchange of documents with parties registered in a proceeding. The sum of these measures will allow the Tribunal to manage more efficiently activities related to the production of the official administrative record and to hearing room proceedings. D. Financial Spending Plan
Section III: Plans, Priorities, Strategies and Expected ResultsA. Summary of Plans, Priorities, Strategies and Expected ResultsThe Tribunal's plans and strategies are summarized as follows.
B. Details by Program and Business LineDue to its mandate and structure, the Tribunal has one business line - to act as an administrative court for dumping and subsidizing inquiries, appeals from customs and excise decisions and procurement complaints and as an advisor to the government and the Minister of Finance on a broad range of trade, economic or tariff-related matters.
ObjectiveThe objective of the Tribunal's business line is to provide a fair and efficient trade remedy system to the Canadian public, the private business sector and commercial interests, and to offer the government, through the Tribunal's fact-finding inquiries and standing reference, the best advice available so that it can formulate strategies aimed at making Canadian producers more competitive in the global trade environment. Key Plans and StrategiesIn order to provide an effective support for a fair and open trading system, the Tribunal has established the following strategic objectives: · to meet all statutory deadlines in the exercise of its jurisdiction; In addition to these overall strategies, the Tribunal has established a number of operational strategies that will allow the achievement of its strategic objectives. These operational strategies include: · to provide an in-depth training program for newly appointed members and to continually improve the skills of existing members; Expected ResultsThe strategies outlined above are expected to provide the following results: · Tribunal decisions that are upheld by national and international appeal bodies; With those results, the Tribunal is in a position to continue to be a key player within Canada's trade remedy system. Consolidated ReportingThere are currently two regulatory initiatives under way which will affect the Tribunal's procedures. First, the Tribunal has undertaken an extensive review of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Rules (Tribunal's Rules of Procedure) in order to eliminate unnecessary rules, increase efficiency and transparency and preserve fairness. The proposed amendments will facilitate procedures arising from technological changes since the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure were enacted in 1991 (for example, electronic filing of documents). It is expected that this initiative will enhance access by Canadians to the Tribunal, as well as provide greater transparency. These proposed changes will formalize some practices which were informally part of our proceedings (for example, requests for information and production of documents). Other proposed changes are required in order to respond to changes flowing from the World Trade Organization Agreement Implementation Act (for example, procedures to facilitate mid-term reviews in safeguard proceedings). The second regulatory initiative flows from legislative changes which are expected to be made to the CITT Act and SIMA. Beginning with a parliamentary review of SIMA in 1996, a number of legislative changes have been proposed to SIMA and, to a lesser degree, to the CITT Act. These proposed changes were submitted to Parliament in 1998. This legislative initiative is being led by the Department of Finance, which has consulted with all affected departments, including the Tribunal. Some of the legislative changes (for example, reassigning the responsibility for the preliminary determination of injury and interim expiry reviews and revising the public interest provisions) will require changes to the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure. The proposed changes to SIMA will result in changes to the Special Import Measures Regulations. In turn, it is expected that the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure will be amended to respond to those changes. The changes to the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure necessitated by the legislative initiative largely relate to information gathering needs which the Tribunal will have as a result of the changes.
Section IV: Supplementary InformationTable 1: Spending Authorities Personnel InformationTable 2.1: Organization Structure Additional Financial InformationTable 3: Departmental Summary of Standard Objects by Expenditure Other InformationTable 5: List of Statutes and Regulations Table 1: Spending Authorities
Personnel InformationTable 2: Organization Structure
Table 2.1: Details of FTE Requirements
Additional Financial InformationTable 3: Departmental Summary of Standard Objects by Expenditure
Table 4: Net Cost of Program for 1999-00
Other InformationTable 5: List of Statutes and Regulations
Table 6: References1. Tribunal's Web sitewww.citt-tcce.gc.ca 2. PublicationsAnnual Reports· 1989-90 to 1997-98 Annual Status Reports· Textile Reference: Annual Status Report - October 1, 1994, to September 30, 1995 BulletinsGuides· Introductory Guide on the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Pamphlets· Information on Appeals from Customs, Excise and SIMA Decisions 3. Contact for Further InformationThe Secretary
IndexAIT (Agreement on Internal Trade) 1, 3, 8 [Table of Contents] Initial publication: April 26, 2001 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||
| Last Updated: 2004-10-27 |  |
[ Important Notices ] | |
