SIMA anti-dumping duties on past Canadian entries: what to check and how to fix it

How do you check if your product is covered?

Start from the CBSA's measures in force list. It names every product under a SIMA measure, with its MIF code, the type (dumping, subsidy or undertaking), the countries and the tariff classification numbers, and it can be filtered by each of them. The list says that if it disagrees with the SIMA finding or order, "the finding or order takes precedence".

1. Filter by tariff classification number and country. Use the ten-digit classification and the origin or export country on your CAD line. No match on any row usually means no measure, but check the product column too: a product classified elsewhere can still be subject goods.
2. Open the measure's own page and read the product definition. Each measure page lists its tariff classification numbers with a warning that they "may apply to goods which are not subject to SIMA measures", and tells the reader to refer to the product definition "for the authoritative details". A classification match is a candidate, not an answer.
3. Check the exclusions. Measure pages list excluded products, and some exclusions need evidence from the importer that the goods meet the excluded standard.
4. Check the dates. Measures start, are renewed and expire, and the measure page carries its investigation timeline. Compare those dates with the release date of each past line, not with today's list (when duty can reach back further is covered below).
5. Find the exporter. If the exporter appears in the measure page's normal value or subsidy tables with an exporter ID, specific values apply; if not, the measure's general basis applies (see the worked line below).

If the answer is still unclear, the measure page names a contact for duty assessment questions and links to the CBSA's earlier decisions on whether goods are subject to it. The rest of this page assumes the answer is yes.

What is SIMA duty, and who decides it?

The Special Import Measures Act is Canada's trade remedy law. Section 3 levies an anti-dumping duty equal to the margin of dumping, and a countervailing duty equal to the amount of subsidy, on dumped or subsidized goods of the same description as goods covered by an order or finding of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal. The work is split: the CBSA investigates dumping and subsidizing and sets the values used to assess duty, the Tribunal decides injury, and the CBSA collects.

Memorandum D14-1-7 defines the margin of dumping as the amount by which the normal value exceeds the export price of the imported goods. In practice the CBSA gives cooperating exporters specific normal values, sometimes model by model, and sets a separate basis in the measure for exporters without them. The duty on a line is therefore not one published rate: it depends on who sold the goods, which model they are, what the importer paid and when the sale happened.

What does a SIMA line look like on a CAD?

Under CARM, SIMA duty is self-assessed on the Commercial Accounting Declaration. Paragraph 52 of D14-1-7 lists the fields an importer must complete for goods under a measure in force:

CARM calculates the duty from those fields. D14-1-7 says improper completion of the SIMA fields "will result in incorrect calculations of SIMA duties in CARM", and the Self-Declare SIMA checkbox exists only to declare duty higher than CARM calculates. Memorandum D14-1-3 adds that cooperating exporters must obtain an exporter ID, which the CBSA publishes on the measure's page, and that the ID is required to give effect to specific normal values, new model rates, export price deductions or amounts of subsidy.

The exchange rate is not the value-for-duty rate. D14-1-7 says sections 44 and 45 of the Special Import Measures Regulations use the rate on the date of sale, or the date of direct shipment where the date of sale is not available. A line converted at the customs rate can carry the right price and still the wrong duty.

When does a SIMA assessment become final?

Faster than any Customs Act decision. Section 56 of SIMA says a determination by a designated officer of whether the goods are subject goods, their normal value and their export price, made within 30 days after the goods were accounted for, is final and conclusive. If no determination is made in those 30 days, subsection 56(2) deems one made on the 30th day, in accordance with the representations made by the person accounting for the goods. On most CADs, nobody looks: the entry you filed becomes the determination.

D14-1-3 fixes the start: goods are accounted for under SIMA on the payment due date shown on the original CAD, and the designated officer's decision occurs, or is deemed to occur, no later than 30 days after that date.

How do provisional and final duties differ?

Provisional duty is the stage between the CBSA's preliminary determination and the Tribunal's decision. Under section 8 of SIMA, importers of goods released in that period pay provisional duty, or post security, of up to the estimated margin of dumping or amount of subsidy. D14-1-7 says the security must be a surety bond, and that the provisional period ends on the day of the Tribunal's finding, which comes within 120 days of the preliminary determination.

After that, three outcomes:

1. No injury, threat of injury only, or terminated investigation. Provisional duty is refunded with interest, or the security released.
2. Injury finding. A designated officer determines the final duty on the provisional-period goods within six months of the order or finding (section 55). D14-1-7 says the final duty cannot exceed the provisional duty paid or payable, and any excess is refunded with interest.
3. Changed costs or markets. If the values from the final determination are not a reasonable basis for the provisional period, a re-investigation sets new values used for those assessments.

You cannot request a re-determination of provisional duty itself; D14-1-3 says those duties "will either be refunded or finalized". The section 55 assessment that finalises them can be challenged by a request to the President within 90 days (subsection 58(1.1)).

When can duty be assessed retroactively?

Normally the values from a review apply going forward. D14-1-7 says revised normal values, export prices or amounts of subsidy apply to goods released on or after the date the review concludes or the date of the decision letter to the exporter, whichever is first. A re-investigation that lowers an exporter's normal value does not, by itself, refund past lines.

Four situations reach backwards:

• Massive importations. Where the Tribunal finds injury caused by massive importations, duty applies to subject goods released in the 90 days before the preliminary determination.
• Circumvention. After the Tribunal amends a finding for circumvention, duty applies retroactively to goods imported from the day the anti-circumvention investigation was initiated, assessed by a designated officer within six months under section 55.1.
• Referral back. If a panel or court refers a rescinding order back and the Tribunal continues the order, duty becomes payable on goods imported between the rescission and the referral.
• Expiry reviews, in your favour. The Tribunal must start an expiry review within five years of the order or finding (section 76.03). If the measure is rescinded, D14-1-7 says duties paid on goods released after the scheduled expiry date are returned.

How do you dispute or correct a SIMA assessment?

SIMA has its own ladder, separate from sections 59, 60 and 67 of the Customs Act:

1. Designated officer re-determination (sections 56 and 57). Within 90 days of the determination, after paying all duties owing, the importer requests a re-determination. The designated officer may also act alone within two years.
2. President's re-determination (sections 58 and 59). Within 90 days of the designated officer's decision, the importer may ask the President. On a request, the President must decide within one year. The President may also re-determine within two years if advisable, and at any time where there was misrepresentation or fraud.
3. Tribunal (section 61). Within 90 days of the President's re-determination, an appeal is filed with both the President and the Tribunal.
4. Federal Court of Appeal. Within 90 days of the Tribunal's decision, on questions of law.

Goods of a CUSMA country have two extras: their government, producer or exporter may also request a re-determination without the importer paying first, and a President's re-determination can go to a binational panel, requested within 30 days, instead of the Tribunal.

In CARM, D14-1-3 says each request is filed through the Client Portal as a SIMA re-determination for every transaction concerned, with a statement of grounds, a statement of facts and evidence: the CAD number and line, the fields to change and their values, the invoice, cargo control document and bill of lading. Several CADs can go in one request only if they concern one measure in force, the same issue, the same importer, and none is out of time, with a worksheet listing transactions in chronological order, grouped by month with monthly subtotals.

A request can go either way. D14-1-3 reminds importers that it "will not necessarily result in the reimbursement of duty and may result in the assessment of additional duty". Additional duty carries interest at the specified rate from the original payment due date; a refund carries interest at the prescribed rate from the day after payment.

What if you owe more SIMA duty than you paid?

Pay it through the same channel. D14-1-3 says voluntary amendments that pay additional SIMA duty, or fix clerical errors with no duty effect, are submitted as a request for re-determination, are "not restricted to the 90-day time limit", and should be made within one year of release where possible. Interest at the specified rate runs from the original payment due date.

Two consequences sit around it. Contravention C004 applies per CAD when the SIMA code was not completed correctly after the importer was notified of a preliminary determination. And Memorandum D11-6-4 covers relief of interest on unpaid anti-dumping and countervailing duty and of penalties tied to SIMA information and records, so a SIMA underpayment found in an audit can be part of a voluntary disclosure.

Which traps catch importers who know the customs rules?

• SIMA is not a Customs Act correction. Memorandum D17-2-1 sends SIMA issues to a re-determination request. So a classification correction that takes goods into, or out of, a measure needs its own SIMA request alongside the section 32.2 correction or section 74 refund claim for the customs duty.
• The refund window is about four months, not four years. Ninety days from a decision that is deemed made 30 days after the payment due date. A SIMA overpayment found in an annual audit is usually already late.
• No netting across routes or measures. D14-1-3 says a request covering several CADs must concern goods under only one SIMA measure in force and the same issue, so each measure is filed on its own. Because D17-2-1 sends SIMA issues to a re-determination request and customs duty to a CAD adjustment, a SIMA overpayment and a customs duty underpayment travel on separate routes and are filed separately.
• Tariff treatment does not remove SIMA. A CUSMA, CETA or CPTPP claim changes the customs duty rate only.
• GST moves with SIMA duty. Section 215 of the Excise Tax Act includes SIMA duties in the value for GST.
• Drawback is available, except under the CUSMA bar, and it is not a correction. Memorandum D7-4-2 says anti-dumping and countervailing duties paid at importation can be claimed by drawback on goods later exported. Memorandum D7-4-3 excludes the case a manufacturer is most likely to count on: for imported non-CUSMA-originating goods used to make goods exported to the US or Mexico, "SIMA duties may not be claimed via drawback", and SIMA duties deferred on entry must be paid within 60 days after export. Where drawback does apply, it recovers duty on exported goods; it does not fix a wrong assessment on goods sold in Canada.

How does one line play out?

A CAD line of 40 tonnes of welded pipe from an exporter with specific normal values under a measure in force. Values are illustrative, already converted at the date-of-sale rate.

Two ways this line ends up wrong:

• Underpaid. The broker left the MIF code blank because the tariff item was also used for non-subject goods. CARM charged no SIMA duty. The importer owes CAD 12,000 plus CAD 600 GST, with specified-rate interest from the original payment due date, filed as a voluntary amendment through a SIMA re-determination request. If the importer had been notified of the measure, C004 adds CAD 500 for that CAD at the first level.
• Overpaid. The MIF code is right but the exporter ID and model ID are missing, so the specific normal value cannot apply and the line is assessed on the measure's basis for exporters without one, which on this measure is higher. The importer has 90 days from the deemed determination to request a re-determination with the exporter ID, after paying everything charged. Found six months later, the request is late and depends on the CBSA's two-year discretion.

How do you check past SIMA lines both ways?

1. Match tariff items to the measures list. Take every line from the broker's accounting export and compare its ten-digit classification, origin and export country with the measures in force on its release date. A match is a candidate, not a finding: the product definition in the finding decides.
2. Check coded lines field by field. MIF code, SIMA invoice price against the purchase price, deductions against Incoterms, quantity and unit, date of sale against the sales contract, exporter and model IDs against the measure's published list.
3. Check uncoded matching lines. Lines that match the tariff item and origin but carry no MIF code need a written reason (outside the product definition, excluded product, non-subject country).
4. Sort by deadline, not by size. Overpaid lines whose decision date is within 90 days go first. Lines past 90 days but within two years go in as late requests with the evidence that the error was in the information used. Underpayments go in as voluntary amendments with the rest of any disclosure.
5. Watch the measures, not only the entries. Expiry reviews, re-investigations and circumvention findings change what lines released in a given window owe.

TariffSense reads CAD/B3 lines and broker accounting exports, checks each line against the SIMA measures in force on its release date, and flags matching lines without a SIMA code, coded lines with missing exporter or model IDs, and dates of sale that do not match the documents, in both directions. Your broker or your own filer submits the re-determination requests. See the post-entry audit page, and the Canadian post-entry audit guide for the other checks on each line.

How is this different from US antidumping duties?

In the US, liquidation of antidumping and countervailing entries is suspended and the final rate comes out of an administrative review years later; antidumping and countervailing duties on past entries covers that cycle. In Canada the normal values are set in advance, the importer self-assesses, and the line is final 30 days after accounting unless someone acts. The US question is usually "what will this entry finally owe?"; the Canadian one is "did we file it right, and are we still inside 90 days to fix it?"

What should you do next on your own entries?

Run the tariff-item match against the measures list for every CAD in the last two years, then check the SIMA fields on every coded line. File overpayment requests in order of their 90-day deadlines, and put underpayments into a voluntary amendment before any CBSA SIMA compliance activity reaches them. For the Customs Act side of the same audit, see correcting a Canadian entry and AMPS penalties. Confirm SIMA filings with a licensed customs broker or trade counsel.