Following the making of a preliminary determination and except where the investigation is suspended due to the acceptance of an undertaking, the legislation requires that the CBSA, within a further 90 days, make a final decision regarding the dumping or subsidizing.

The purpose of the final investigation is to calculate precise normal values or amounts of subsidy for use in the President's final decisions. Where sufficient data has been collected and verified as required, normal values and export prices or the amounts of subsidy are calculated on the basis of this data. Where sufficient information is not available, recourse is made to a Ministerial Specification as discussed in Part 16.

Generally, CBSA officers verify respondent’s submissions during the final phase of the investigation. The requirement for an on-site visit to verify information submitted is at the option of the CBSA and a decision not to conduct a verification exercise does not in any way preclude using the data submitted. In investigations where it is impossible to visit all exporters, the larger exporters are normally visited to verify their submissions. The verified data can be used to check unverified data or as a substitute in the absence of information.

If submissions in response to a request for information and any supplemental requests for information are substantially complete and the CBSA intends to verify the information, the respondent is contacted to confirm arrangements for a verification meeting. In general terms, respondents are advised prior to the verification meeting of the material that is to be verified, and the data that must be made available at the time of the visit.

A verification exercise, if required, is only conducted with the consent of the exporter and only if the foreign government does not object. No verification will be conducted without prior assurance that the CBSA investigators will have complete and full access to any and all company records that they deem necessary to examine. If such assurances are not given, the CBSA may consider that the information cannot be fully verified and may proceed on the basis of the facts available, which may or may not include the unverified information.

If the respondent's submission is incomplete, a verification meeting is not scheduled.

If during the final investigation it is determined that the information and evidence shows that there is no dumping or subsidizing or that the margin of dumping or the amount of subsidy in respect of the goods of an exporter is insignificant, the President terminates the investigation with respect to those goods and any provisional duty paid will be refunded. A margin of dumping that is less than 2% of the export price and an amount of subsidy that is less than 1% of the export price are normally considered insignificant. Where the investigation in respect of some or all of the goods is terminated, all parties involved are notified in writing and notice is published in the Canada Gazette. The CBSA will issue reasons for its decision 15 days later. The termination causes all action under SIMA in respect of those goods to cease.

At this stage of the investigation, however, the President cannot terminate the investigation on the grounds that the volume of goods is negligible. Once the preliminary determination is made, the Tribunal must determine whether the volume of dumped or subsidized goods from a country is negligible, and if so, its injury inquiry with respect to those goods from that country is terminated.

Source: Canada Border Services Agency