Agriculture committee  Thank you for the question. Perhaps I will deal with the end of the process first. As a consequence of the Federal Court decision to dismiss the appeal of the Canada Border Services Agency and of the Dairy Farmers of Canada, we are now classifying product with a milk protein cont

Agriculture committee  In classifying certain products, we believe we're right. Obviously we believe we've made the correct decision. But it's always open to importers to appeal those decisions. We therefore then have to follow court decisions if the court decision disagrees with our interpretation.

Agriculture committee  Thank you for the question. The practice is to conduct periodic verifications of importers, and in doing so, to investigate the documents with respect to their importations. I'm talking generally across the board. We will assure ourselves that in fact the imported product was pr

Agriculture committee  The implication for an importer who does not have a proper classification would be that they would have to pay an adjusted rate of duty. Depending on the difference in the rate of duty applicable between two tariff classifications, they would have to decide what the consequences

Agriculture committee  We like to think that if we do a verification, we can do a full forensic verification to determine that the goods are in fact properly classified. We will ask for all the documentation necessary to assure ourselves that the goods were properly classified.

Agriculture committee  Let me put it in these terms. We have someone go to the company, ask for their import documents, and review their documentation.

Agriculture committee  We can ask for samples of the product they're importing.

Agriculture committee  There are cases where we do send products to the lab. It's difficult for me to respond with respect to a very specific case, because the Customs Act prevents me from referring to very specific cases.

Agriculture committee  I don't know the answer to that. It's difficult to answer that question.

Agriculture committee  It is possible in the process of a verification to ask for a laboratory sample.

Agriculture committee  I can't talk of specific cases, but in certain sectors, depending on the nature of the product, whether it's food or chemicals, or otherwise, and depending on the complexity of the product, we would ask for samples.

Agriculture committee  I couldn't refer you to a specific case.

Agriculture committee  Well, it depends on the issue, I think. I'm not an expert in this area.

Agriculture committee  If you could just specify the question a little bit more, as to whether you're talking about exports from the U.S. into the Canadian market that get turned back at the border....

Agriculture committee  My area is commercial, dealing with the administration of the trade programs.