International Trade committee  I just wanted to add to that, because part of what Frédéric had talked about was, for example, a poultry working group, and coming out of that there were a number of complaints about imports of goods that shouldn't qualify under the duties relief program or the import for re-expo

International Trade committee  Spent fowl exists as a tariff classification—

International Trade committee  What happened is that as a result of international trade negotiations at the WTO, Canada made spent fowl part of its schedule to the WTO. So it has formed part of our domestic law. It's there. It exists.

International Trade committee  I'm going to come around to a point Minister Ritz will recall, that years ago—

International Trade committee  “Mr. Ritz”, that's correct.

International Trade committee  That exists in our customs tariff schedule to the WTO, and the way to amend it is to renegotiate it with the WTO. We did that years ago with a product called “milk protein isolate”, on which we raised the tariff from 6% to 265%—

International Trade committee  —but what happened is that we also had this commitment in our Canada-U.S. FTA, and subsequently the NAFTA. So we couldn't stop imports from the United States. But what it did was that it stopped imports of these products from France, Switzerland, and New Zealand, and shifted prod

International Trade committee  I think it's an interesting question. We haven't done that. We've certainly seen representations that are all over the map, but we are trying to assess the impact. Obviously, we would rely on the expertise of the Department of Agriculture for something like that.

International Trade committee  Maybe I could clarify before I begin my introduction. I was asked to come to speak about the duties relief program, not the other two programs you mentioned earlier. If that's still the case, I'm happy to continue in that manner.

International Trade committee  Thanks very much. My name is Dean Beyea. I'm the director of the international trade policy division at the Department of Finance. The duties relief program is legislated under the customs tariff, which is the responsibility of the Minister of Finance. My division is responsible

Finance committee  Just to clarify, these iPods and MP3 players have been eligible to come in under this exemption. They're technically classified in an area where there is a tariff now, and they're subject to a duty-free exemption. Nothing that's changed in the GPT will change that. They'll be a

Finance committee  I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question?

Finance committee  Right. We've excluded 72 countries from the tariff, but regardless of whether these goods were coming from those countries or not, they were coming in duty free under this exemption for tariff item 9948 and they'll continue to be eligible to do that.

Finance committee  Sure. It can be two points. I think budget 2009 and budget 2010 eliminated all tariffs on machinery, equipment, and manufacturing input, so there are no tariffs for a manufacturer to pay, but as a retailer-wholesaler importing, say, certain finished goods that would be subject to

Finance committee  That's right. The vast majority, well over 95%, have been implemented or have been eliminated. There are a few textile tariffs that are being phased out to 2015.