6 September 2001

Orders in Council PC 2001-1497 and 1498

PC 2001-1497 is the Order Amending Certain Remission Orders Made under the Customs Tariff (Miscellaneous Program).

The Tailored Collar Shirts Remission Order, 1997; Shirting Fabrics Remission Order, 1998; Outerwear Apparel Remission Order, 1998; and Blouses, Shirts and Co-ordinates Remission Order, 1998 assist manufacturers in these import-sensitive sectors to make the long-term commitments necessary for the transition years ahead as textile and apparel trade is integrated into the WTO (ie as quotas are phased out). Each Order contains a list of manufacturers that are eligible to receive benefits under it. Generally speaking, the Orders allow eligible manufacturers to import certain textile and apparel products on a duty-remitted basis to help them round out their product lines. Benefits are restricted to the duty remission that each manufacturer was entitled to receive in 1995 under predecessor remission Orders. All four Orders end on 31 December 2004.

PC 2001-1497 amends the above-mentioned Orders to:

(a) update the list of eligible claimants. Since the predecessor Orders had a three-year claim period and officials of the CCRA were still in the process of auditing beneficiaries when the new Orders came into force, the lists of eligible claimants under the Orders require updating. Further, since 1997 there have been a number of mergers, purchases and closures in the industry and, as a result, the lists of eligible manufacturers under the Orders need to be changed;

(b) increase the claim period to ensure that the newly added manufacturers as a result of the auditing by the CCRA are able to fully benefit from the Orders;

(c) correct typographical errors in the names of certain manufacturers; and

(d) align certain portions of the English and French versions of the Orders.

PC 2001-1498 is the Order Amending the Schedule to the Customs Tariff (Harmonized System, 2002).

This Order amends the schedule to the Customs Tariff to implement the changes to the Harmonized System (HS) scheduled to be implemented effective 1 January 2002. It is technical in nature, renumbering and redescribing tariff items to ensure that the rates of duty to which goods are subject on 1 January 2002 are identical to the rates to which they would have been subject in the absence of amendments to the HS. These amendments are rate and revenue neutral.