Guide for appealing a duty assessment

A correction to a Commercial Accounting Declaration (CAD) submitted via the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) portal—as a voluntary change to declaration information that occurs between the initial acceptance of the CAD and the payment due date available to importers enrolled in the Release Prior to Payment (RPP) Program—is not an appeal or request for re-determination. See Memorandum D17-1-5 for more details regarding corrections to the CAD.

After the payment due date, there are three situations in which you might want to appeal a duty assessment. If you believe that the CBSA made an error in a Statement of Adjustment (SOA) issued to you, that you or your agent overpaid Special Import Measures Act (SIMA) duties when calculating and paying your duties, or that a recent Scope ruling applies to one of your past importations, you can ask the CBSA to review the transaction. This is called a request for re-determination and is used when you are asking for a refund of SIMA duties. While the process to make a request under all three situations are very similar, there are additional requirements to be met when requesting a re-determination in order to apply a scope ruling. This Guide focuses on what is required to request a re-determination for the first two situations and additional instructions relating to applying a scope ruling are found at the end.

Before submitting a request for re-determination, you must pay your SIMA duties. In your request, you must provide:

• a statement setting out the grounds on which you are requesting a re-determination
• the facts on which the request for re-determination is based
• the evidence to support the facts
• copies of the original Canada Customs Coding Form (Form B3), for pre-CARM transactions
• copies of the Canadian Customs Invoice (or the commercial invoice)
• any certificates or permits
• proof of payment of SIMA duties (date stamped copy), for pre-CARM transactions
• the Exporter ID (this may be found on the Measure in Force) and
• contact information for applicable parties

A request for a re-determination shall also include uploaded attachments such as a cover letter, worksheets, etc. that provide detailed information and explanations for processing the re-determination.

A request for a re-determination may cover:

• whether the imported goods are of the same description as the goods to which the order or finding of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal applies and/or
• the information used in the assessment of anti-dumping or countervailing duties payable on imported goods, such as the determination of the normal value, the amount of subsidy or the export price

There are two levels of re-determination available to you. The first level is to request a re-determination by a designated officer and the second level is to request a re-determination by the President of the CBSA.

With regards to the first level of re-determination, if you, or your agent, self-assessed the anti-dumping or countervailing duties at the time of importation and no subsequent decision on the importation was made by the CBSA, you may file a request to a designated officer for a re-determination within 120 days of the date of accounting for the transaction – that is, the payment due date for the CAD in CARM. However, if a SOA was issued by the CBSA within 30 days after the date of accounting, you have 90 days from the date of that SOA to file a request to a designated officer for a re-determination of that decision.

A request for a re-determination by a designated officer can be made by submitting a SIMA re-determination via the CARM Client Portal (CCP). The facts on which the request for re-determination is based, and supporting attachments, must include:

• the original CAD number and line on the CAD that requires a change
• the fields that should be corrected and the values they should include
• the Reason Code that indicates it is being made under paragraph 56(1.01)(a) – a CUSMA government, producer, manufacturer or exporter of the goods could make a similar request under 56(1.01)(b)

The CBSA will verify information submitted. If your request is accepted, the CAD will be corrected and a new SOA will be issued. For more information on general procedures relating to a request for re-determination in the CCP, refer to Memorandum D17-2-1.

With regards to the second level of re-determination, if a SOA has been issued by a designated officer after 30 days from the date of accounting or if the CBSA has issued a decision in response to a request for re-determination by a designated officer, you may file a request to the President for a re-determination. In either case, the request to the President must be filed within 90 days of the date of the decision as noted on the SOA.

A request for a re-determination by the President can also be made by submitting a Statement of Adjustment Appeal through the CCP, and the Reason Code for the request is being made under paragraph 58(1.1)(a), or (b) if the request is made by a CUSMA government, producer, manufacturer or exporter.

Please note that a request for a re-determination will be accepted by the CBSA only if all amounts owing as duties and interest in respect of the goods referred to in the determination, including goods of a Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) country, have been paid in full by the importer of the goods. Where a determination is made in respect of goods of a CUSMA country, the government of that CUSMA country, or, if they are of that CUSMA country, the producer, manufacturer or exporter of the goods may make a request for re-determination, whether or not the importer of the goods has paid all duties and interest owing on the goods. Security or bond cannot be posted for a request for a re-determination of anti-dumping or countervailing duties imposed on imported goods.

Scope rulings

In order to request that a scope ruling be applied to a previous determination or re-determination, you must provide a request in the same manner as above and containing the same documents, as well as identify the applicable scope ruling and indicate why it is applicable.

To have a scope ruling applied to a previous determination or re-determination, you have up to 90 days after the effective date of the scope ruling to file a request, provided that the original determination or re-determination occurred within the two years preceding the effective date of the scope ruling.

Further appeals

Appeals of SIMA re-determinations by the CBSA President may be made to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (Tribunal); please consult the Customs and excise appeals guide. Alternatively, appeals of re-determinations by the President may be made with respect to goods of a CUSMA country to a binational panel by contacting the Canadian Secretary, CUSMA Secretariat. Appeals to the Tribunal and to a binational panel are mutually exclusive. Further appeals may be made to the Federal Court of Appeals if in respect to a matter of law or to the Federal Court if in respect to a matter of fact.

For more information regarding re-determinations and the application of scope rulings, please consult Memorandum D14-1-3.