Notices

ITEM 5104: SOFTWOOD LUMBER PRODUCTS

Parent

Serial No. 90
Date: March 25, 1996

1.0 Purpose

1.1 The purpose of this Notice is to inform exporters that, as of April 1, 1996, softwood lumber products will be placed on the Export Control List (ECL). As of that date, where the Province of manufacture is British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba or Quebec, and such products are exported to the United States only, all exports of these products, as defined in paragraphs 2.2 through to 2.3, will require an export permit delivered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. In case of such products where the Province of manufacture is Ontario, the application of an export permit requirement remains under discussion and will be decided shortly. These arrangements are designed to implement Canada's commitments under the Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America with respect to the trade in Softwood Lumber between Canada and the United States of America. The Agreement will remain in force for a period of five years.

2.0 Coverage

2.2 Softwood lumber products mean:

(a) coniferous wood sawn or chipped lengthwise, sliced or peeled, whether or not planed, sanded or finger-jointed, of a thickness exceeding 6mm, that is classified under subheading 4407.10.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (1996) (United States International Trade Commission Pub. 2937, 19 U.S.C. 1202 (1988)); and

(b) 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 subheadings 4409.10.10, 4409.10.20 and 4409.10.90 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (1996) (United States International Trade Commission Pub. 2937, 19 U.S.C. 1202 (1988))- abbreviated as HTS.

The item on the ECL covers only exports of these products to the United States.

2.3 Annex 1 of this Notice identifies U.S. softwood lumber products by HTS tariff item numberand relevant U.S. Additional and Statistical Notes.

2.4 In order to implement the Canada/U.S. softwood lumber agreement, the United States will require all importers of softwood lumber from Canada to the United States to designate the Province of manufacture of such goods.

2.5 The Province of manufacture is the Province where the subject goods have undergone a change in tariff classification to 1996 HTS tariff items 4407.10.00, 4409.10.10, 4409.10.20 or 4409.10.90 from any tariff item except a tariff item within that group.

2.6 The Province of manufacture means the province where the mill, at which a log from a tree is first manufactured into a softwood lumber product, is situated, whether or not that product is further processed (such as planing or kiln drying) or is transformed from one softwood lumber product into another such product in another province.

2.7 The definition in paragraph 2.2 refers to articles of wood described in the Explanatory Notes of the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS), Chapter 44, which are provided for, in part, in Annex 2.

2.8 Exporters who require a determination as to whether or not a product they intend to export is classified under the U.S. covered softwood lumber products are encouraged to obtain a binding ruling from U.S. Customs Services. Requests for binding rulings may be directed to any U.S. service port as listed in Annex 3; the Director, Commercial Rulings Division, Office of Regulations and Rulings, U.S. Customs Service, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, D,C, 20229; or, to the Area Director of Customs, New York Seaport, 6 World Trade Center, New York, NY, 10048.

3.0 Authority

4.0 Duration

4.1 This Notice will remain in effect until further notice.

5.0 Export Permit Issuance and Validity

5.2 Export permits are issued through an on-line automated system in the offices of some 130 customs brokers in major centres across Canada, or in the offices of the Export and Import Controls Bureau (EICB), Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, P.O. Box 481, Station "A", Ottawa Ontario, K1N 9K6.

5.3 A list of customs brokers having access to the on-line computer system may be obtained from EICB on request.

5.4 Export permits are issued with a validity period of 30 days (5 days prior to and 24 days after) of the date of entry into the United States. Under no circumstances will utilization of permits for one fiscal year be allowed in the next fiscal year, beginning April 1, 1996. The Customs Clearance copy (pink) of the Export Permit must be retained by the applicant for a period of five years.

5.5 Requests for export permits will be accepted within 25 days prior to the expected date of departure of the shipment from Canada. When requesting an export permit, applicants should complete form EXT-1466-1, "Application for Permit to Export Softwood Lumber Products to the U.S.A.", and transmit it to the agents referred to in paragraph 5.2 above.

6.0Sharing of Information with the Provinces and the United States

6.1 A provision of the bilateral agreement requires that officials from Canada and the United States meet on a regular basis to share and compare information each Party has collected on the Province of manufacture. It will be a condition of a permit issued pursuant to an application that the applicant agrees that the Minister may provide information in the application to competent authorities of the Province of manufacture of softwood lumber products and of the United States.

7.0Compliance and Enforcement

7.1 The exportation of goods on the Export Control List without an export permit issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is an offence and may lead to prosecution under the Export and Import Permits Act.

8.0 Permit Fees

9.0 Further Information

9.1 Enquiries about permit issuance may be addressed to :

Annex 1: HTS Softwood Lumber Products

Additional U.S. Note

Heading 44.09 includes articles having repeating design worked along any edge or face.

Statistical U.S. Note

For the purposes of heading 44.07, the term "rough" includes wood that has been edged, resawn, crosscut or trimmed to smaller sizes but it does not include wood that has been dressed or surfaced by planing on one or more edges or faces or has been edge-glued or end-glued.

* Note- the commodity code required to identify the softwood lumber product on the "Application for permit to export softwood lumber products to the U.S.A." (form EXT-1466-1) is equivalent to the HTS tariff item number followed by 4 zero's, i.e., "0000".

Annex 2: Explanatory Notes for Wood Products of Headings 44.07 and 44.09, Chapter 44

General

The classification of wood is not affected by the treatment necessary for its preservation, such as seasoning, superficial charring, priming and stopping, or impregnation with creosote or other wood preservatives (e.g., coal tar, pentachlorophenol, chromated copper arsenate or ammoniacal copper arsenate); nor is it affected by reason of being painted, stained or varnished.

1. HTS tariff item 4407.10.00 covers:

(a) all coniferous wood and timber, of any length but of a thickness exceeding 6 mm, sawn or chipped along the general direction of the grain or cut by slicing or peeling. Such wood and timber includes sawn beams, planks, flitches, boards, laths, etc., and products regarded as the equivalent of sawn wood or timber, which are obtained by the use of chipping machines and which have been chipped to extremely accurate dimensions, a process which results in a surface better than that obtained by sawing and which thereby renders subsequent planing unnecessary. It also includes sheets of sliced or peeled (rotary cut) wood, and strips and friezes for parquet flooring, other than those which have been continuously shaped along any of their edges or faces;

(b) coniferous wood not necessarily of rectangular (including square) section nor of uniform section along the length;

(c) coniferous products that may be planed (whether or not the angle formed by two adjacent sides is slightly rounded during the planing process), sanded or end-jointed, e.g., finger-jointed.

HTS tariff item 4407.10.00 excludes: chipwood and the like; wood roughly squared, e.g., by coarse sawing; veneer sheets and sheets for plywood of a thickness not exceeding 6 mm; wood continuously shaped along any of its edges or faces (heading 44.09); strips of plywood or veneered wood for parquet flooring; or builders' joinery and carpentry.

2. HTS tariff items 4409.10.10, 4409.10.20 and 4409.10.90, articles of siding, flooring and other products, but excluding mouldings and dowel rods, covers:

(a) coniferous timber, particularly in the form of boards, planks, etc., which, after sawing or squaring, has been continuously shaped along any of its edges or faces either to facilitate subsequent assembly or to obtain mouldings or beadings, whether or not planed, sanded or end-jointed, e.g., finger-jointed (continuously shaped wood covers these products with a uniform cross-section throughout the length and products having a repetitive design in relief);

(b) coniferous strips and friezes for parquet flooring consisting of narrow pieces of boards, provided they have been continuously shaped, e.g., tongued and grooved.

HTS tariff items 4409.10.10, 4409.10.20 and 4409.10.90 do not include: strips and friezes described in 2(b) which have not been worked beyond planing, sanding or end-jointing, .e.g., finger-jointing(heading 44.07); strips of plywood or veneered wood for parquet flooring; planed or other worked boards presented in sets as box boards; wood which has been mortised or tenoned, dovetailed or similarly worked at the ends and wood assembled into panels being builders' carpentry or joinery; panels consisting of laths of roughly sawn wood, assembled with glue in order to facilitate transport or later working; moulded wood built up by superimposing a moulding on another piece of moulded or unmoulded wood; wood which has been surface worked beyond planing or sanding, other than painting, staining or varnishing (e.g., veneered, polished, bronzed, or faced with metal leaf).

Annex 3: U.S. Service Ports that Provide Binding Rulings

Annex 4: Applying for a Softwood Lumber Export Permit

What is required to apply for a permit:

2.The Company file number block of the first application only will be blank. The applicant/exporter must provide the issuing office of the export permit with the exporter's name, title, firm name, address, postal code, business number (or GST number) and whether they represent a miller of softwood lumber products.

3.For subsequent applications, the applicant/exporter must complete the "Company File No." block of their applications with the file number appearing on the first export permit form (EXT 1054).

4.An individual export permit or set of export permits is required for EACH shipment based on a single U.S. Entry Number.

5.A fee for $9 will be levied for the aggregate number of export permits issued for each shipment of softwood lumber products based on a single U.S. Entry Number, where the export permit is delivered by a person who is not employed in the public service of Canada but who is authorized by the Minister to make the delivery. The EICB's fee is $14 per shipment. However, brokers with on-line privileges may charge more; each broker's fees may differ.

6.Export permits are issued with a validity period of 30 days (5 days prior to and 24 days after) of the date of entry into the United States. Under no circumstances will utilization of permits for one fiscal year be allowed in the next fiscal year, beginning April 1, 1996. Requests for export permits will be accepted within 25 days prior to the expected date of departure of the shipment from Canada.

Applications Not Using An On-Line Customs Broker

7.Applications must be sent in by exporters directly by mail. However, permits will not be issued unless accompanied by a cheque or money order for $14.00 made out to the Receiver General for Canada. Permits may then be mailed, held for pick-up or sent to the applicant by courier collect. The EICB will deliver the permits by the method selected by the exporter.

Presentation of Export Permits

8.As it is not our intention to disrupt or change the normal patterns of exports to the U.S. market, export permits for softwood lumber will not be required for presentation to Canada Customs officialsat the time of shipment, nor will they be required by the U.S. Customs officials at the time and place of entry into the U.S. The record of permits issued will identify those shipments meeting the requirements of the Export and Import Permits Act.