WTO: Turkey and Turkey Products TRQ - Serial No. 989

Date: October 1, 2020

This Notice replaces Notice to Importers No. 947 dated October 1, 2019, and sets out the policies and practices pertaining to the administration of Canada’s tariff rate quota (TRQ) for turkey and turkey products under the World Trade Organization (WTO).

This Notice is provided pursuant to the authority of the Export and Import Permits Act (EIPA) and its corresponding regulations, and remains in effect until further notice.

Definitions
Allocation policy
Eligibility criteria
Calculation of allocations
Transfer, return and under-utilization of allocations
Information related to import permits of turkey and turkey products
Related links

1. Definitions

Further processing means the manufacturing of products that are on the Import Control List (ICL). Such products include, but are not limited to, patties, nuggets, fingers, rolls or roasts produced from turkey meat; it also means marinating, smoking or drying, coating or seasoning turkey meat.

Non-ICL products means products that are not on the ICL and that are domestically manufactured using products that are on the ICL to compete with like imported products entering Canada duty-free or at a low rate of duty.

Processing means the slaughtering of turkey, cutting up of eviscerated turkey, de-boning of eviscerated or cut up turkey, or further processing of turkey meat.

Trim meat means any turkey meat, excluding mechanically separated meat and tenders, which: (1) is the by-product of a trimming, boning, cutting or advanced meat recovery operation; (2) is used in a formulation; and (3) has been purchased or valued at a cost less than random (e.g., line run) whole muscle breast meat.

Turkey means a product that is included in Items 105 to 113 on the ICL, namely turkey and turkey products falling under tariff items 01.05, 02.07, 02.09, 02.10, 16.01 and 16.02 in the list of tariff provisions set out in the Schedule to the Customs Tariff.

Note: For the purpose of this Notice, all quantities of turkey and turkey products are expressed in eviscerated equivalents pursuant to the List of EIPA commodity codes for turkey and turkey products.

2. Allocation policy

To be eligible to apply, you must be active in the turkey industry at the time of application, and must remain active regularly throughout the quota year.
- Note: Except for processors of non-ICL products, you must, in addition, have been active regularly in the turkey industry during the reference period.
- Note: In the case of non-ICL processors, this means that you must continue producing non-ICL products throughout the quota year to remain eligible for an allocation.
Processors considered to be related to food service companies are not eligible for an allocation under the non-ICL portion of the turkey and turkey products TRQ.
Except for processors of non-ICL products, individual applicants and related persons applicants are eligible for only one allocation.
- Note: All applicants must provide a list of related persons.
- Note: In the case of separate applications from related persons involving a parent company and one or more subsidiaries, only the application nominated by the parent company is considered.
If you received an allocation in the previous year and have submitted a complete application for the new quota year, you may receive an advance of up to 30% of your initial allocation in the previous year, subject to any under-utilization penalty that may apply.
The intent of the non-ICL allocation policy is to assist Canadian manufacturers to compete directly with like products that can enter Canada duty-free or at a low rate of duty.
You must specify in your application the minimum quantity of quota you will accept. If your calculated market share allocation is less than 20,000 kg, you are issued an allocation only if the quantity you have specified in your application is equal to or lower than your calculated allocation.

3. Eligibility criteria

You are eligible to apply for an allocation if you are a:

Processor of non-ICL products

that manufactures non-ICL products in your owned and operated Canadian establishments that are in good standing and have received processing licenses from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA); and
sells these products at the wholesale level.
You must exclude the following from your application:

products that have not been processed in Canada in CFIA-approved plants owned and operated by you;
products for which you have not obtained a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) letter of opinion;
products for which you are unable to provide the finished product recipe, processing method and composition of the meat;
mechanically separated meat (MSM);
added fat; and
added skin.

Note: If you use marinated turkey in your non-ICL product, you must use the pre-marinated weight of the turkey in your application.
Note: If MSM is not available domestically at U.S.-competitive prices, the Minister may authorize supplemental imports for MSM.
Note: If your non-ICL products are manufactured using ground meat, finely textured meat or trim meat, you must provide information concerning the total amount of these products used in the production of your non-ICL products.

Traditional allocation holder

who can demonstrate active involvement in the turkey or food sector.

Processor

that bought at least 150,000 kg of turkey and subsequently sold at least 150,000 kg of turkey and turkey products processed or further processed in the reference period in federally or provincially registered Canadian plants owned and operated by you.
You must exclude the following from your application:

products that were not processed in federally or provincially registered Canadian plants owned and operated by you;
products bought and sold for the export market;
non-ICL products;
products that you did not process (e.g., distribution sales);
products sold at the retail level to consumers; and
intra-company transfers and transactions.

If you are a parent company submitting joint applications by affiliated firms, you must exclude the purchases and sales of any company, whether it’s the parent company or an affiliated company, that does not meet the 150,000 kg purchase, production and sales criteria as set out above.

Distributor

that bought (i.e., took ownership of and financial responsibility for) at least 100,000 kg and subsequently sold at least 100,000 kg of turkey in the reference period, using warehouses and trucks in carrying out this activity.
You may also qualify as a distributor if you are a retail company that:
- has separate divisions that purchase and distribute turkey to non-affiliated companies; or
- has central buying operations and sells to corporate or franchise stores (or co-op members), and that arranges delivery and charges the individual store for warehousing and for the turkey product.
- Note: Companies that procure or sell turkey and turkey products on behalf of others without taking ownership of or financial responsibility for the products are not eligible to apply for an allocation.
- Note: Retailers are not eligible to apply for an allocation. A retailer is an establishment that is primarily engaged in retailing food, and which buys turkey and turkey products and sells them directly to final consumers.
You must exclude the following from your application:
- products bought and sold for the export market;
- non-ICL products;
- products sold to related persons;
- products sold at the retail level to consumers;
- products bought from or sold to other distributors; and
- live turkeys.

4. Calculation of allocations

Processors of non-ICL products

are allocated quota on the basis of one kg of import quota for each kg of turkey inputs used in the production of non-ICL products in the reference period.
- If the total amount of turkey requested for the production of non-ICL products exceeds the quantity available to processors of non-ICL products, the allocation is done on a pro-rata basis.
If the amount of quota you are allocated for the production of non-ICL products is insufficient to meet your manufacturing needs, you may apply for supplemental imports through the Import-to-Compete program. Supplemental import requests are authorized only for the specific inputs you require for the manufacturing of your non-ICL product. (See Notice to Importers Turkey and Turkey Products - Supplemental Imports).

Traditional allocation holders

are allocated the remaining quota, up to the amount of quota that they were allocated in the previous year, as adjusted (e.g., for under-utilization).

Processors

85% of any remaining quota is allocated to processors on a market share basis based on the kg of turkey and turkey products processed in federally or provincially registered Canadian plants owned and operated by the processor, and subsequently sold, in the reference period.

Distributors

15% of any remaining quota is allocated to distributors on an equal share basis.

5. Transfer, return and under-utilization of allocations

If you wish to transfer any portion of your allocation, you must submit a transfer request form.
You may return any portion of your allocation to the Department in writing by the prescribed return date. Returns are processed the following way:

Note: Quota returned by allocation holders is applied first against supplemental imports issued between January 1 and October 1 for market shortages, test marketing, import-to-compete and extraordinary or unusual circumstances.
Note: Any remaining quantity will be made available after the return date to eligible allocation holders who have not returned any portion of their allocation, in proportion to their initial allocation, or on demand if quantities still remain after the first offer.

If you use less than 90% of your allocation in one year, you may have your allocation adjusted downward by an under-utilization penalty in the following year.

Note: Any portion of your allocation that you transfer or return in accordance with the present policy is considered to have been used.

6. Information related to import permits of turkey and turkey products

For import control purposes, partially deboned products are considered to be boneless, therefore you must use the appropriate EIPA boneless turkey codes when requesting a permit. Examples of such products include:

fresh turkey breasts that have been partially deboned so that only the keel bone or cartilage remains.

7. Related links

Date modified:: 2020-09-29

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