Notices

The purpose of this Notice is to remind exporters that the Export and Import Permits Act (EIPA) and regulations require that an exporter have an export permit at the time of exporting goods included on the Export Control List. Certain softwood lumber products exported to the United States (defined in Annex A to this Notice) are included on the Export Control List.

This Notice informs Canadian exporters of softwood lumber to the United States of the opportunity to notify the Export and Import Control Bureau (EICB) of shipments of softwood lumber to the United States during the period from April 1, 2001 to September 30, 2003, for which no export permits were issued under the EIPA. In the event that Canada and the United States enter into an agreement on softwood lumber, this agreement may require Canada to establish an export quota regime. To allocate quota to exporters, the Minister for International Trade may consider both exports for which export permits were issued and exports that were not supported by an export permit but were subsequently verified.

As set out below, exporters must provide audited documentation to the EICB respecting shipments of lumber for which no export permits were issued.

Canada and the United States are engaged in discussions to resolve the current softwood lumber dispute. One element of these discussions is the imposition of an interim border measure in Canada, possibly in the form of an export quota regime.

On December 8, 2003 the Government of Canada released a paper on proposed principles of quota allocation. In this paper, the Government proposed that, should a softwood export quota regime be established, export quota be allocated to primary producers and remanufacturers of softwood lumber based on the quantity of lumber with export permits shipped by them during the period from April 1, 2001 to September
30, 2003 (quota base period). To this end, Canadian exporters have been asked to certify to the accuracy of the EICB export permit data for their softwood lumber exports to the United States during the quota base period.

If the softwood lumber dispute were to be settled and an export quota regime were to be established, the Minister of International Trade has indicated that, in making quota allocation decisions, he may take into account:

Canadian exporters are invited to request that EICB verify shipments of softwood lumber to the United States without export permits during the quota base period. See Section 3.3 for instructions with respect to shipments of softwood lumber originating in Atlantic Canada. The deadline for Canadian exporters to request that EICB verify shipments is March 31, 2004.

In order for the EICB to verify shipments of softwood lumber to the United States, an exporter must provide an independent certification of shipments and a schedule of shipments. The EICB will review the documentation and, although it is anticipated that the EICB will normally accept the documentation, in certain situations the EICB may require additional information to enable it to verify such shipments.

At the time of making its request that EICB verify shipments, an exporter must provide the following certificate, in the form of an audit opinion, from an independent accredited public accountant.

I hereby certify that the schedule of shipments of softwood lumber in the attached document [dated ● ], totalling __________ fbm were exported to the United States by ________ Company Name___________, EICB Number ___________ during the period from April 1, 2001 to September 30, 2003.

I further certify that these shipments were exported without permits issued under the Export and Import Permits Act.

I further certify that I have reviewed the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Entry Summary Document 7501 for each shipment listed on the attached document.

I further certify that the importer of record for these exports has remitted U.S. countervailing and/or anti-dumping duty cash deposits where applicable to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for shipments made to the United States since the imposition of the U.S. countervailing and anti-dumping duties on or about May 22, 2002.

___________________________
Signature
Name
Title (i.e., Chartered Accountant)
Name of accounting or auditing firm, if applicable
Address
Telephone number / Fax number
Date

Exporters are to provide a schedule of the individual shipments with no export permit issued. The following information is required for each shipment on this list. The shipments are to be listed in an electronic spreadsheet with the following headings and company-specific information. A spreadsheet with the headings is available from our website. (right-click on "spreadsheet" and save to hard drive)

For lumber first milled in Atlantic Canada from logs harvested in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador or the State of Maine, and exported to the United States without export permits, the EICB will accept completed and returned Maritime Lumber Bureau Certificates of Origin as verification that these lumber exports were made to the United States during the quota base period April 1, 2001 to September 30, 2003. The EICB and the Maritime Lumber Bureau will put in place procedures to ensure that export permits have not been issued for these shipments.

Exporters of softwood lumber originating in Atlantic Canada requesting that the EICB verify shipments to the United States during the quota base period without export permits must complete the Schedule of Shipments described in Section 3.2 of this Notice and submit the Schedule to the EICB (see Section 4 for mailing instructions) with a copy to the Maritime Lumber Bureau. All requests must be submitted by March 31, 2004.

Hard copies of the schedule of shipments and the certification of shipments are to be sent to the EICB at the address listed below. Exporters must provide EICB with signed originals of all certifications of shipments. Facsimiles or PDF versions of the submission will not be accepted by EICB.

Spreadsheets are to be provided on diskette or compact disk accompanying the submission.

Consulting and Audit Canada
Room C4-510
Export and Import Controls Bureau (EICB)
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Lester B. Pearson Bldg, Tower C-4
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2

coniferous wood sawn or chipped lengthwise, sliced or peeled, whether or not planed, sanded or finger-jointed, of a thickness exceeding 6 mm, that is classified under subheading 4407.10.00 of the Harmonised Tariff Schedule of the United States 2001. (United States International Trade Commission Pub. 3378, 19 U.S.C. 1202 (1988)); (United States), and

coniferous wood (including strips and friezes for parquet flooring, not assembled), continuously shaped (tongued, grooved, rebated, chamfered, V-jointed, beaded, moulded, rounded or the like) along any of its edges or faces (other than wood mouldings and wood dowel rods), whether or not planed, sanded or finger-jointed, that is classified under subheading 4409.10.10, 4409.10.20 or 4409.10.90 of the Harmonised Tariff Schedule of the United States 2001. (United States International Trade Commission Pub. 3378, 19 U.S.C. 1202 (1988)). (United States)

Notices

Verification of Softwood Lumber Shipments to the United States