How to answer the CBSA’s dumping RFI: 10 insider tips

Exporting goods to Canada and other markets is a valid way for companies operating internationally to diversify and increase their revenues. The globalized market offers many opportunities for sales growth. However, exporters must comply with trade remedies laws, which can affect their products and jeopardize a key revenue stream if they are targeted by a trade remedy case.

The “Special Import measure Act” (SIMA) is the Canadian legislation that ensures fair trade between domestic and foreign exporters. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) are in charge of enforcing SIMA.

If you are reading this article, your company is either exporting or planning to export goods to Canada that are subject to an investigation or a finding/order under SIMA. You may be wondering how to respond to the Request for Information (RFI) from the CBSA about dumping and/or subsidy.

As a former Senior Officer of the CBSA’s Anti-dumping and Countervailing Investigations Division, I can help you with these 10 tips to answer the CBSA dumping and/or subsidy RFI.


Number 1 – Read and understand the request carefully

Before answering the questions, make sure you understand what information the CBSA wants, how to format and submit your response, how to provide confidential and non-confidential versions, and when to send your response.

If you skip this step, you may run into problems after submitting your response to the CBSA. For example, some companies do not provide proper non-confidential versions of their responses because they do not read the RFI carefully. This can cause delays and difficulties, as the CBSA officer assigned to the file will not be able to access your response. You will have less time to answer any additional RFI and you may risk having your response rejected as incomplete.


Number 2 – Organize the information to be provided

Make sure your information is clear, correct, and complete. After all, providing incomprehensible information to CBSA may be as good as providing no information at all.

Many questions in the RFI will ask you to attach supporting documents to your answers. When you do that, indicate which document corresponds to which answer, and make it easy to find.

By providing clear, correct and complete information, you will reduce the need for extra RFIs. This will help you meet the deadlines and save you work.

Number 3 –  Respond to each question of the RFI
Make sure to address each question and sub-question while completing your response to the dumping of subsidy RFI. If a question does not apply to your company, indicate it and specify the reason as to why the question does not apply.

Each question relates to a portion of the applicable legislation and has a purpose. In order for your response to the RFI be considered complete and show your cooperation, each question needs to be answered.

CBSA officers will send supplemental RFI if there are unanswered questions, or even deficiency letters if they deem the overall response to be unacceptable. Not responding to every questions will result in your company having to put more time responding those questions in a shorter time frame.

Number 4 –  Be concise and transparent
The CBSA officers are experienced and they work together during investigations. Incomplete information will assuredly be questioned further and inconsistencies will be noted and asked to be corrected. Hiding or providing false information can result in a company’s submission to be entirely rejected, making future sales of subject goods in Canada difficult for your company.

Provide only the information that has been requested and avoid providing unnecessary information.

For example, if the CBSA requires your company to list sales of product X in Canada between 2 dates, do not provide other products or sales outside of the scope. It may cause confusion and result in errors or supplemental questions costing time and money to your company.

Number 5 –  General, selling and administrative (GS&A) costs
When completing an Appendix relating to the unit cost of production of the goods, companies should include the direct material, direct labor, factory overhead, the interest expenses and GS&A reasonably attributable to the production and sale of the goods, plus all other costs (i.e. royalties).

When you report GS&A costs for an anti-dumping investigation, you need to know what costs to include and what costs to exclude. In general, GS&A costs should include all the normal and necessary costs for producing and selling the subject goods. These costs may include salaries and wages, rent, utilities, office expenses, legal and professional fees, advertising and marketing expenses and insurance.

On the other hand, there are some costs that you should not include in the GS&A costs that you give to the CBSA. These costs may include capital expenditures, research and development costs , costs for producing goods that are not under investigation , or unusual or one-time expenses.

Number 6 –  Protect confidential information
If the information you give is confidential, identify it as such and provide a justification for why it should be considered confidential. Generally, confidential information includes personal or financial information, business proprietary information, or third party information. Companies may designate as confidential any portion of the data which they wish to have maintained in confidence in order to prevent it from leaking to potential competitors.

But remember that the CBSA may not agree with your confidentiality request if they think it is not justified. In that case, you can either remove your request or give more reasons why the information is confidential.

Number 7 –  Follow the format specified by the CBSA
The CBSA provides blank spreadsheets and Excel-formatted appendices in the questionnaires sent to your company. The instructions specifically request that this format be followed and used. You must use it. It does not matter if another format is easier for your company. The WTO Anti-dumping agreement allows for the investigative authorities to request information be provided in a particular format as long as the request is reasonable. Should a company decide not to provide the information in the provided format, the investigative authority may decide to deem the interested party uncooperative and disregard the information provided.

As senior officer at the CBSA, I worked on a case where an exporter with no in-house international trade expert, and whom did not opt to hire competent counsel, simply refused to provide its information in the format requested by the CBSA despite being asked multiple time. Unfortunately for them, while the information wasn’t bad, it was considered uncooperative and its entire submission was disregarded. Your company need to avoid this situation,

Number 8 –  Hire a proper counsel
Anti-dumping investigations can have serious legal implications, and it's recommended to seek competent legal counsel with some solid experience in cost accounting and the SIMA/SIMR to assist in the preparation of the response to the CBSA dumping and/or subsidy RFI and the rest of the proceeding. It will help your company avoid situations like the one noted above.

Number 9 –  Meet deadlines
Respond to the RFI within the timeframe specified by the CBSA. Late submissions may or may not be considered and it is up to the CBSA’s discretion to determine if it has enough resources available to accept late submissions.

In some cases, a company may get more time to send their response if there are unexpected events that prevent them from meeting the deadline. But this is decided by the CBSA on a case-by-case basis.

For a typical officer, reviewing an exporter’s response to an RFI can take two to three weeks depending on the quality and the complexity of the response. This does not take into account supplemental RFIs to seek clarifications, preliminary Normal Value calculations and the preparation for the on-site verification.

Number 10 –  Review your responses
Check your response carefully before submitting it to ensure that it is complete, accurate, and error-free. This may seem obvious, but there are many supplemental questions regarding incomplete responses, contradictions and evident disparities between information that should match for different responses.

Pay extra attention to the information in the appendices and make sure there are no inconsistencies between the information in an appendix, your accounting system and the supporting documents that you give to the CBSA.

Conclusion

In conclusion, responding to a CBSA request for information can be a complex and challenging process, especially if you're unfamiliar with CBSA regulations and requirements. This is why it's essential to work with experts like J.T. Trade Remedies to help you navigate the process effectively. By hiring J.T. Trade Remedies, you can ensure that your response is accurate, complete, and submitted on time, giving you the best chance of success.

With our expertise in anti-dumping and countervailing investigations, we can help you identify key issues, gather the necessary information, and present it in a compelling and persuasive way. Don't risk the consequences of an inadequate or incomplete response. Instead, take action and hire J.T. Trade Remedies to assist you in responding to CBSA request for information.

Contact us today to learn more about how they can help you protect your business interests and comply with CBSA regulations.