Canada on May 5, 2021 imposed provisional duties on upholstered domestic seating (“UDS”) originating or exported from China and Vietnam (“named countries”). UDS originating from China or Vietnam are under investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (“CITT”). The CBSA will continue its investigations of the dumping and subsidizing and will make final decisions by August 3, 2021. The CITT is expected to issue its finding by September 2, 2021.
The CBSA made preliminary determinations under subsection 38(1) of the Special Import Measures Act (Canada) (“SIMA”), that the named countries had been dumping and subsidizing UDS entering the Canadian market.
The provisional period commences on the date a preliminary determination of dumping and/or subsidizing is made and ends on the earlier of the date the CBSA President terminates the investigation, or on the date the CITT makes a finding regarding injury (within 120 days from the date of the CBSA’s preliminary determination). The importer will be liable for payment of provisional duty upon importing goods subject to such duty during the provisional period.
Upholstered Domestic Seating
The goods under investigation are upholstered seating for domestic use, such as sofas, chairs, loveseats, sofa beds, day beds, futons, ottomans, stools, home theatre seating and others. Included are upholstered seating that allows for movement, seating with metal and/or wood frames, seating produced as sectional items or part of, foot rests and foot stools. There are certain exclusions (e.g. seating upholstered only with fabric, etc.) for which the antidumping and countervailing duties will not be administered. However, most UDS items are covered in the preliminary determination by the CBSA.
Domestic purpose classification is based on the product’s design, characteristics, marketing and pricing, as defined under Chapter 94 of the Customs Tariff Schedule.
The usual tariff classification numbers of the impacted imports are:
- 9401.40.00.00
- 9401.61.10.10
- 9401.61.10.90
- 9401.71.10.10
- 9401.71.10.90
However, these tariff classification numbers may:
- apply to goods not included in the SIMA measures;
- be subject to change; or
- be imported under tariff classification numbers not listed.
Consequently, the application of antidumping and countervailing duties is based on the description of the goods and not tariff classification.
Antidumping and Countervailing Duties – Country of Origin or Export: China and Vietnam
Two provisional duties have been applied since May 5, 2021. The two duties (antidumping duty and countervailing duty) are as follows:
Country of origin or export: China
- Provisional anti-dumping duty: 206.36%
- Provisional countervailing duty: 89.54%
- Total provisional duties: 295.9%
Country of origin or export: Vietnam
- Provisional anti-dumping duty: 89.77%
- Provisional countervailing duty: 11.73%
- Total provisional duties: 101.5%
