Erroneous rulings by Canada's customs officers have cost the federal treasury about half a million dollars.

The Trudeau cabinet recently authorized $495,000 in rebates already paid to five companies that imported jewelry into Canada between 2006 and 2012.

The companies paid Canadian duties on the imports, but later smelted the jewelry into bullion and sold the precious metals in Canada.

Under an obscure section of the customs tariff, a company can recover any duties paid if it can prove the imported goods were destroyed after being declared obsolete or surplus....

This has been excerpted from the 1 July 2016 edition of CBC News and is available in its entirety at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/customs-rebates-cabinet-gold-silver-jewellery-cbsa-imports-1.3658364