Notices

1.0 Purpose
2.0 Background
3.0 Agreement in Principle
4.0 What it Means
5.0 Exports and Transfer of Fee-Free Quota
6.0 Notification
7.0 Further information

1.1 The purpose of this Notice is to advise producers and exporters of softwood lumber and of rougher headed lumber (RHL), in particular, to the United States that Canada has reached an agreement in principle to settle the rougher headed lumber dispute under the Canada - U.S. Softwood Lumber Agreement. The agreement in principle will be finalized with the U.S. and implemented in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements. The settlement of the dispute and amendment of the Softwood Lumber Agreement affect RHL first manufactured in the covered provinces and exported to the United States.

2.1 On March 10, 1999, U.S. Customs published a notice proposing to revoke its 1992 and 1994 rulings that state that RHL falls under HTSUS 4418 and to reclassify it into HTSUS 4407, a tariff category subject to the Softwood Lumber Agreement. RHL boards are roughed on one to four sides to appear rough-sawn or rustic primarily for fascia and trim applications. As a result, Canada invoked the dispute settlement provisions of the Softwood Lumber Agreement and, when the April 21 consultations failed to resolve the dispute, requested formation of an Arbitration Panel on June 9, 1999.

2.2 The U.S. reclassification of rougher headed lumber, effective August 9, 1999, placed these products under the scope of the Agreement and export permits were required to ship these products to the U.S.

3.1 The agreement in principle which settles the rougher headed lumber dispute provides for an additional 72.5 million board feet of fee-free quota for year five of the Softwood Lumber Agreement in return for Canada withdrawing arbitration proceedings under the Agreement.

4.1 In order to implement the agreement, a comprehensive survey of the industry's traditional RHL production and sales will be required to ensure appropriate allocations to eligible producer/shippers of subject RHL products.

4.2 In order to be considered for an allocation under the proposed agreement, the attached questionnaire must be completed and received by the EICB by November 3, 2000. Please fax the completed questionnaire to (613) 944-3061.

4.3 Please be advised that you may be required to provide additional information and documentary evidence to the Softwood Lumber Division to permit verification of your questionnaire responses.

4.4 The questionnaire must be verified by a Public Accountant, who will be tasked to verify several questionnaire responses, particularly those respecting the respondent's production, sales and export documentation. Questionnaires that are not accompanied by the Public Accountant's letter (sample attached) will not be considered for the purpose of allocation.

4.5 For the purpose of this Notice, an accountant is defined as a member in good standing of one of the three professional accounting bodies in Canada (C.A., C.G.A. or C.M.A.) who is registered with his or her provincial professional organization to provide accounting services and is independent from the applicant (i.e. not an owner, or a partner, of the company responding to the questionnaire and not in an employee - employer relationship). The costs of the services performed by the Public Accountant with the questionnaire are wholly the responsibility of the respondent.

5.1 Companies who receive an allocation and wish to transfer quota are reminded to review the provisions of the Notice to Exporters #98 of March 24, 1997.

6.1 Your company will be informed of its eligibility and quota allocation by fax.

7.1 For further information please contact the Softwood Lumber Division (EPS), Export and Import Controls Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade at the co-ordinates listed below or Paul Lamontagne, telephone number (613) 944-0208.