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SECTION II—ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES BY STRATEGIC OUTCOME

Strategic Outcome

Fair, timely and transparent disposition of international trade cases, procurement cases and government-mandated inquiries within the Tribunal’s jurisdiction

The following section describes the Tribunal’s program activities and identifies the expected results, performance indicators and targets for each of them. This section also explains how the Tribunal plans on meeting the expected results and presents the financial and non-financial resources that will be dedicated to each program activity.

This section contains a discussion of plans surrounding the following program activities:

• Adjudication of Trade Cases (quasi-judicial role)
  
• General Economic Inquiries and References (advisory role)
  
• Internal Services

Activity No. 1—Adjudication of Trade Cases (quasi-judicial role)

Program Activity Descriptions

The Tribunal’s adjudicative mandate is to provide a fair, timely and transparent trade remedies system to Canada’s business sector, thereby preserving confidence in the Canadian market, to the benefit of Canadian businesses and consumers. The Tribunal acts as an independent, quasi-judicial decision-making body that derives its adjudication authority from the CITT Act, SIMA, the Customs Act and the Excise Tax Act. It operates within Canada’s trade remedies system, applying existing policies and laws on trade agreements seeking to address unfair competition in the domestic market or provide emergency protection against imported items that are seen to cause injury to a domestic industry. The Tribunal also hears appeals from decisions of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the CBSA. It has also been designated as the bid challenge authority under the AIT, NAFTA, the AGP, the CCFTA, the CPFTA and the CCOFTA.

In its quasi-judicial role, the Tribunal’s caseload is comprised of the following:

• Unfair trade cases—inquiries under SIMA into whether dumped and/or subsidized imports have caused or are threatening to cause injury to a Canadian industry;
  
• Bid challenges—inquiries into complaints by potential suppliers concerning federal government procurement under NAFTA, the AIT, the AGP, the CCFTA the CPFTA and the CCOFTA;
  
• Appeals of decisions of the CBSA made under the Customs Act and SIMA, and decisions of the CRA under the Excise Tax Act; and
  
• Safeguard cases—inquiries into whether the rapid build-up of imports from China, or from around the world, is causing injury to a Canadian industry.

Financial Resources ($ thousands)

2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015
7,263	7,362	7,293

Human Resources (full-time equivalents)

2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015
56	57	57

Program Activity Expected Results	Performance Indicators	Targets
Tribunal decisions are fair, impartial and based on quality information.	Tribunal decisions are overturned by the following national and international appeal bodies: Federal Court of Appeal Binational panels under NAFTA Dispute settlement body, WTO Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes Federal Court	Not more than 2 percent of all decisions rendered over the most recent five-year period are overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal and/or international appeal bodies.
	Soundness of the Tribunal’s decisions under judicial review that are overturned by the Federal Court of Appeal and/or international appeal bodies based on “due process” not being followed.	Less than 1 percent of all decisions on “due process” will be overturned.
	Tribunal notices, decisions and guidelines for all areas of its mandate and practice notices are accessible to the public.	All notices, practice notices, decisions and guidelines for all areas of the Tribunal’s mandate are accessible to the public.
	Decisions are issued within statutory deadlines. The Tribunal’s decisions regarding dumping and/or subsidizing, safeguard inquiries and procurement complaints are subject to statutory deadlines.	All decisions are issued within the legislated deadline.
	Appeal decisions are issued within internal deadlines. There is no statutory deadline imposed for appeals of decisions of the CBSA and Minister of National Revenue. However, the Tribunal has adopted an informal, voluntary standard of issuing such decisions within 120 days of the hearing of an appeal.	70 percent of internal deadlines are met.

Planning Highlights

In order to achieve the expected result for its quasi-judicial role, the Tribunal plans to undertake the following activities:

• Continue reviewing internal processes to find efficiencies and synergies: The Tribunal will continue the modernization of its Rules of Procedure in order to streamline proceedings, reduce the paper burden imposed on parties and increase overall efficiency and transparency while preserving procedural fairness and the protection of confidential information.
  
• The Tribunal will also continue to reduce the number of hard copies of documents that are being reproduced by encouraging staff and members to rely, to the greatest extent possible, on its case management system.
  
• A new initiative in 2012-2013 is an electronic questionnaire that will allow respondents to save time and to check for errors when they provide information to the Tribunal. This will translate into significant efficiency gains for Tribunal stakeholders and the Research Branch of the Tribunal as it will reduce the time and resources spent on entering and validating data.

Activity No. 2—General Economic Inquiries and References (advisory role)

Program Activity Descriptions

The Tribunal plays an advisory role when requested by the Government to recommend measures to alleviate injury to domestic producers pursuant to a safeguard inquiry. Periodically, the Government may also direct the Tribunal to inquire into general economic, trade or tariff matters. In such inquiries, the Tribunal has the power to conduct research, receive submissions, hold hearings and report with recommendations, as required, to the Government or the Minister of Finance. When these requests arise, the Tribunal faces a strain on its resources and must meet very strict government-imposed deadlines.

The Tribunal has received a standing reference from the Minister of Finance to investigate requests from domestic producers for tariff (import tax) relief on imported textile inputs for use in their manufacturing operations and make recommendations to the Minister that would maximize the net economic benefits to Canada.

In its advisory role, the Tribunal’s caseload is comprised of the following:

• Safeguard cases—where the Tribunal finds injury to a Canadian industry, the Governor in Council may request the Tribunal to recommend appropriate measures for dealing with the build-up of imports;
  
• General economic, trade and tariff inquiries referred by the Government—inquiries and advice on such economic, trade and tariff issues as are referred to the Tribunal by the Governor in Council or the Minister of Finance; and
  
• Standing tariff reference referred by the Minister of Finance—investigations into requests from Canadian producers for tariff relief on imported textile inputs that they use in their production.

Financial Resources ($ thousands)

2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015
89	89	89

Human Resources (full-time equivalents)

2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015
1	1	1

Program Activity Expected Results	Performance Indicators	Targets
Tribunal recommendations on economic, trade, tariff matters and the standing textile reference are fair, impartial and based on quality information.	Recommendations meet the terms of reference and provide requested information. An indicator of the soundness of the Tribunal’s decisions is the number of requests for additional information from the Minister of Finance.	All recommendations meet the terms of reference.
	Reports, decisions and recommendations are published within government-mandated deadlines. The Tribunal’s recommendations regarding the tariff reference and economic inquiries are subject to statutory deadlines.	All recommendations are published within statutory deadlines.

Planning Highlights

During the 2011-2012 fiscal year, the Tribunal did not receive any new requests for tariff relief on textile inputs. However, the Tribunal still allocated modest human and financial resources to this program activity to maintain a core level of knowledge and expertise in this highly specialized area should the need again arise. Further, the Tribunal is required to report on the standing textile reference in its annual report.

Activity No. 3—Internal Services

Program Activity Descriptions

Internal Services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization. These groups are Management and Oversight Services, Communications Services, Legal Services, Human Resources Management Services, Financial Management Services, Information Management Services, Information Technology Services, Real Property Services, Materiel Services, Acquisition Services, and Travel and Other Administrative Services. Internal Services include only those activities and resources that apply across an organization and not those that apply specifically to a program.

Financial Resources ($ thousands)

2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015
2,543	2,444	2,513

Human Resources (full-time equivalents)

2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015
20	19	19

Planning Highlights

The Tribunal’s planning highlights for Internal Services include the following:

• Supporting its employees during a period of high workload and budgetary constraints: During this period of high workload and budgetary constraints, the Tribunal will be providing its employees with the necessary support to maintain employee well-being and morale while ensuring that the Tribunal’s responsibilities under its legislative mandate are met. With recent changes in internal and case processes and the Tribunal’s organizational design, the HR section will be reviewing employee classifications to ensure that individual positions accurately reflect the incumbent’s tasks and responsibilities. The Tribunal will also continue to offer training to ensure that employees have the proper tools to do their jobs and to ensure that managers and employees are up to date with changes to policies and procedures.
  
• Continuation of investments in IM/IT: The Tribunal plans to continue to invest in its security systems and implement enhanced monitoring measures. The Tribunal will also implement a desktop security program and assure the segregation of the Tribunal’s network in order to minimize the propagation of unwanted threats from within the network. The IT section will also continue to document its recovery procedures and build its off-site capacity in order to improve its business-continuity readiness. The Tribunal will also continue to develop its IM strategy in order to minimize the loss of corporate memory due to outdated IM systems. As part of the Tribunal’s IM strategy, a new structure for its corporate files, developed in 2011-2012, will be implemented in 2012-2013.

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