The Tribunal hears and decides cases involving the dumping or subsidising of goods imported into Canada. The magnitude and complexity of these cases can be staggering. The Canadian industry involved may have a value exceeding one billion dollars. The outcome of our deliberations can impact the lives of tens of thousands of people both within Canada and beyond our borders. Conversely, the domestic industry may be comprised of a small family enterprise, employing less than ten people.
Larger cases produce thousands of pages of documents and thousands of pages of transcripts.
Because cases involve small, as well as large corporate interests, our practises and procedures must be responsive to the needs of all parties. The Tribunal is also Canada's bid dispute body for federal government procurement complaints. Unlike the dumping and subsidy cases however, we normally do not conduct hearings. Rather, we collect information from the parties through the exchange of written documents. Parties coming before us may be corporate giants complaining about the loss of a multi-million dollar software contract, or a sole proprietor complaining about the loss of a small, yet still important, translation contract.