Once the complainant has been given notice that the complaint is properly documented, SIMA stipulates that the President has 30 days to determine:

• - whether the complaint has been made by or on behalf of the domestic industry;
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• - whether there is sufficient evidence that the imports are dumped or subsidized; and
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• - whether there is a reasonable indication that the dumping or subsidizing has caused injury or retardation or is threatening to cause injury.
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In order for an investigation to be commenced under the Act, the complaint must be made by or on behalf of the Canadian industry. In this respect, there are two conditions to be met. First, the complaint must be supported by a producer or producers whose collective production of the goods represents 25% or more of total Canadian production of the goods and second, the total production of those Canadian producers who express support for the complaint must be greater than the total production of those producers who express opposition. The CBSA must take the necessary steps to satisfy itself that the conditions noted above are met.

In addition to the above, an investigation may be initiated only if a complaint contains sufficient evidence of dumping or subsidizing and sufficient evidence that the alleged dumping or subsidizing has caused injury to domestic producers whose collective production of like goods constitutes a major proportion of total domestic production. It is the practice of the CBSA to decide, on a case by case basis, whether a significantly large proportion of Canadian production has been injured by the alleged dumping or subsidizing. It should be noted, however, that a major proportion may be less than 50%.

In establishing whether there is sufficient industry support for the complaint or whether there is evidence of injury to a major proportion of Canadian production, the output of Canadian producers who are also importers of the goods or who are related to exporters or importers of the goods need not be included as part of Canadian production.

If the complaint is not supported by producers whose combined production represents a sufficient percentage of domestic production, the complainant may choose to contact other Canadian producers to solicit their support along with information and evidence where necessary. Alternatively, the CBSA may request directly that other domestic producers provide an indication of their support for or opposition to the complaint. Producers are asked to indicate their production figures in order to determine whether the complaint has the necessary level of support as described earlier. If a trade union or association is the complainant, they must take the necessary steps to ensure that Canadian industry supports the complaint and explain the methodology used for assessing standing in their submission. SIMA permits to extend the 30-day period in order to allow the evaluation of a properly documented complaint (pre-initiation phase) to 45 days for the purpose of examining the level of support among Canadian producers.

Source: Canada Border Services Agency