June 5, 2007

 

Canada corn producers: Court to hear arguments on US corn duty

 

 

The Federal Court of Appeal will begin hearing arguments Tuesday (Jun 5) from the Canadian Corn Producers (CPP) group aimed at getting the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT), to reconsider its decision to scrap a duty on US corn imports, a legal representative for the CCP said Monday.

 

The CCP consists of the Corn Producer Associations from Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec.

 

"This will be a three-day hearing that will begin Tuesday," said Bill Hearns, who is international trade law counsel with McMillan, Binch, Mandelsohn LLP and will be representing the CCP.

 

Opposing the reconsideration of eliminating the duty are about 20 parties, of which 10 will have legal representatives at the hearing and will present arguments that the decision was appropriate.

 

Hearns said some of the corn producers' opponents include Maple Leaf Foods, Archer Daniels Midland, the US government, Greenfields, formerly Commercial Alcohols, and the Canadian Cattlemen's Association.

 

"We will be trying to convince the three-judge Federal Court of Appeal panel that the CITT made a mistake in its decision," Hearn said.

 

He said any one of three CITT mistakes should be enough to send the case back for reconsideration. He said the CITT was mistaken in confusing price suppression with price depression, considering the margin of dumping and the amount of subsidy as separate forms of injury, and basing its decision on a widening price gap between US and Canadian corn.

 

He said each of those arguments are errors in the decision process, adding that if the Court of Appeal agrees, it can send the issue back to the CITT.

 

"A decision by the Court of Appeal could be immediate, or it could conceivably take 30 to 60 days," Hearns said.

 

"In all likelihood we will have a decision by the end of the summer," he said.

 

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), made a preliminary determination on Dec 15, 2005, that US grain corn imports to Canada were dumped and subsidised.

 

Under the CBSA's decision, duties totalling US$1.65 per bushel were later imposed to prevent further injury to Canadian corn growers. A provisional anti-dumping duty was set at 58 US cents per bushel on unprocessed US corn, while a provisional countervail duty was set at US$1.07 per bushel.

 

A final determination from the CBSA regarding anti-dumping and countervailing duties on US corn on March 15 left the duty in place but was contingent on the CITT final injury decision April 18, which essentially eliminated the duty.

 

The CCP officially filed its appeal of the CITT decision to scrap the duty on June 8, 2006.