The Government is seeking the views of interested parties on the elimination of Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) rates of customs duty on certain agri-food processing inputs. The tariff items being considered for elimination of the rate of customs duty are listed in Table 1 with their current MFN rates.
BACKGROUND
The Canadian agri-food processing industry is Canada’s largest manufacturing employer and an important contributor to the Canadian economy. Budget 2016 announced the Government’s intention to launch public consultations on eliminating tariffs on certain imported food manufacturing ingredients, other than supply- managed products, to support investment and job creation in this important sector.
The Government has reviewed Canada’s tariff regime to identify opportunities to help improve the competitiveness of Canadian agri-food processors in domestic and foreign markets by reducing non-recoverable production costs.
SCOPE OF TARIFF ELIMINATION
The Government proposes to reduce to “Free†the MFN rates of customs duty on the tariff items listed in Table 1. The tariff items in Table 1 have been selected based on the following factors:
- Goods covered by these tariff items are used in agri-food processing;
- Eliminating the tariff on these goods will reduce production costs for Canadian industry; and
- There is interest from stakeholders in eliminating MFN tariffs on some of these goods to enhance competitiveness.
The description of the tariff items listed in Table 1 can be found in the latest consolidated version of the Customs Tariff available on the Canada Border Services Agency website.