International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It would impact it by bringing the entry into force date to November 1, and it would mean that from October 12 to October 31, no export charges would be collected.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Chair. As has been noted at these committee hearings before, the Government of the United States issued a notice to cease collecting the AD and CV duties at the end of October 11. On October 12, there were no CV and AD duties. We do have information from our counterparts at United States Customs and Border Protection that on the morning of October 12, a number of duties were collected.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Chair. The bill is based upon the shipment being deemed exported on the date of shipment, and what we're trying to provide to the exporters is certainty as to when they can count their shipments in quota situations and paying the export charge. This amendment would create greater certainty for the exporter so that when it was released to the railway company, the transport agency, it would provide for greater certainty so the exporter would know at that time what his export charge would be or how his shipment would count against his quota limit.

International Trade committee  Thank you. This was a negotiated part of the agreement, as these two terms were agreed to by Canada and the United States as ways of measuring the date of shipment. The option for some of this flexibility to the exporters taking it into option B provinces is that those exporters, when they have a quota allocation, will have a flexibility of about 12% of their export allocation, carried forward and carried back.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Paul. The concept of the railcar was to recognize a standard industry practice and an industry recommendation that cars are assembled at their plants or at certain places and are then moved to another location to be assembled into a total train to be shipped to the United States.

International Trade committee  Correct.

International Trade committee  We've had no companies come to us about any incidents after October 12. When I spoke with U.S. Customs and Border Protection people, they said it was limited to a very few border crossings on the morning of October 12.

International Trade committee  We don't know the amount because it's a U.S.--

International Trade committee  In the four provinces, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, we've had extensive consultations and discussions with our provincial counterparts and also with industry associations, companies, and interested parties within each of those provinces.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Chair. The agreement does provide for a price advantage for independent remanufacturers, and the key to that definition is the independence. There are two determining factors of this independence, which are the certification by the province that you do not hold tenure, which makes you separate from a primary mill—

International Trade committee  That's correct. We talk about tenure all the time, and I apologize for not explaining it. The second component of independence is that you are independent of tenure-holders--i.e., you have no affiliation or relation to a tenure-holder in a financial or a control way.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Paul. Under the terms of the agreement, there are a number of opportunities for new entrants to ship to the U.S. The historical exports determined the regional shares, as outlined in the agreement. Then provinces were allowed to select under two options: option A which, was a straight tax and a no-volume restraint; or option B, which is a lower export tax and a quota-volume restraint.