./.RESTRICTEDWORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SCM/W/460
2 August 2001
(01-3825)
Committee on Subsidies
and Countervailing MeasuresOriginal:  English
IMPLEMENTATION-RELATED ISSUES REFERRED
TO THE  COMMITTEE IN THE 15 DECEMBER 2000 DECISION
OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL
Communication from Canada
The following communication has been received from the Permanent Mission of Canada on
30 July 2001.
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Canadian Drawback and Duties Relief Programmes
General
The drawback programme and the duties relief programme offer relief from duties paid on
imported goods that are subsequently exported in the same condition in which they were imported, or
that are processed in Canada and subsequently exported.  Whereas the drawback programme offers arefund of duties already paid, the duties relief programme relieves or defers duties on imported goods
up front.  In both programmes, the amount of duty to be relieved is determined on the basis of each
transaction, without the possibility of aggregation or averaging.
Procedural requirements by the claimant
Under the drawback programme, once the produc t in question is exported, the claimant must
complete a Drawback Claim Form with supporting documentation in order to claim the duty paid on
the imported inputs contained in that product.
Under the duties relief programme, the user must be authorized by the Canada Customs and
Revenue Agency (CCRA) to use the programme, and receive a unique certificate number.  When
importing goods under this programme or purchasing domestically from another participant, this
number identifies the user’s membership in the programme.  The user must be able to track all
receipts, activities, and movement of goods that are included under the programme.  These recordsmust be sufficient to allow the CCRA to conduct an audit, which is done periodically.
The programmes may be used by the importer, exporter, processor, owner, or producer of the
goods.  Under the drawback programme, where more th an one person is eligible to make a claim, the
person making the claim must have all other eligible claimants sign a waiver indicating they waive
their right to make a claim.  Similarly, under the duties relief programme when the goods areG/SCM/W/460
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transferred from one programme participant to another, the purchaser of the goods must sign a waiver
indicating that they accept the liability for the deferred duties.
Documentation
No specific records are requested for audit purposes, as long as existing company records
provide an audit trail allowing post-verification to be conducted.  The key supporting documents
include a copy of any export sales invoice and a bill of lading or other shipping document.  However,
certain other records may be requested from the different stages of production in order to conduct an
audit.  Below are some of the documents that would typically be used:
Acquisition: purchase orders and invoices.Inventory: shipping documents, which will be matche d up to purchase orders and enter the inventory
system of the company.
Production:  inventory requisition slips, production report.  In addition, two documents may be
created to assist in monitoring claims: (1) a relative value-outturn statement, which is a report made to
allocate the duty content of imported materials to a variety of finished products; and (2) a scrap
statement, which is a report of the goods that became scrap as part of a production process.
Stocking: stock cards and inventory lists.Shipping: bills of lading, packing lists, or waybills.Accounting: sales invoices.
Time Limits
Before a claim may be filed, the goods must be exported or deemed exported.  Generally, a
claim for drawback must be filed within four years of the date the goods were released from customs.
Similarly, under the duties relief programme the goods must be exported from Canada within four
years of the date of release of the goods.
Consumable and expendable goods
Goods, other than fuel or plant equipment, consumed or expended in the direct manufacture
of other goods that are subsequently exported, are subject to drawback and duties relief.
Equivalence
Drawback and duties relief are permitted in certain cases where both imported and domestic
goods of the same class are used interchangeably in the processing of end products, some of which are
exported.  The imported goods must be in sufficient quantities to produce the goods exported, and beused in production prior to the domestic goods.  Equivalence applies only to production inputs, never
on finished products.
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