Guide for appealing a duty assessment

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 Detailed Adjustment Statement (DAS) 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 written 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), if available;
• copies of the Canadian Customs Invoice (or the commercial invoice)
• any certificates or permits; and
• proof of payment of SIMA duties (date stamped copy).

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. However, if a DAS was issued by the CBSA within 30 days of the date of accounting, you have 90 days from the date of the DAS 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 completed Form B2 (Adjustment Request) and supporting materials to the following address:

SIMA Registry and Disclosure Unit
Trade and Anti-dumping Programs Directorate
Canada Border Services Agency
100 Metcalfe Street, 11^th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L8

With regards to the second level of re-determination, if a DAS has been issued by the CBSA 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 DAS.

A request for a re-determination by the President can be made by submitting a completed Form B2 (Adjustment Request) and supporting materials to the following address:

Director
Trade Appeals and Litigation
Recourse Directorate, CBSA
Vanier Tower, 11^th Floor
333 North River Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L8

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.

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