Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This is going to get a bit technical, which I apologize for right from the start, but essentially, if the goods are being imported under chapter 4 of the customs tariff, and the importer wishes to claim them within what we call the “within-access provision” in chapter 4, at the lower rate of customs duty, they are required to have a permit issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
When the goods are being accounted for, we will check the importation against the permit to ensure that permit exists. Otherwise, if the importer had made a claim that there were goods that qualified within the access rate, but did not have the permit, we would go back and investigate and reassess the importer. If the importer were not able to provide the permit, then they would become subject to the higher rate of duty.
In terms of whether the goods are below or above the levels of protein concentrate for purposes of classification, whether it's in chapter 4 or chapter 35, the practice of the agency is to periodically conduct verifications of importers. We will look at the records of importers to confirm that the goods in question meet the claim that has been made at the time of importation.