Inquiry No. GC-2025-001

NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT OF SAFEGUARD INQUIRY

CERTAIN VEGETABLE GOODS

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal has been directed by Her Excellency the Governor in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, pursuant to paragraph 20(2)(a) of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act, to inquire into and report on the importation of certain vegetable goods (the subject goods). A full description of the subject goods can be found in the Schedule of the Order Referring the Matter of the Importation of Certain Vegetable Goods to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (Order in Council).

The purpose of this inquiry is to determine whether the above-mentioned goods are being imported into Canada in such increased quantities and under such conditions as to be a principal cause of serious injury or threat thereof to Canadian producers of like or directly competitive goods.

The Tribunal is being directed, if it makes an affirmative determination, to recommend the most appropriate remedy to address, over a period of three years, the injury or threat of injury, in accordance with Canada’s rights and obligations under international trade agreements. In this regard, the Tribunal is being directed to consider the effect of the remedy on the affordability for consumers of certain vegetable goods and food security.

The Tribunal must report to the Minister by September 9, 2026.

Each person or government wishing to make submissions to the Tribunal must file a Form I—Notice of Participation with the Tribunal on or before April 2, 2026. Each counsel who intends to represent a party in the inquiry must file a Form II—Notice of Representation, as well as a Form III—Declaration and Undertaking, with the Tribunal on or before April 2, 2026. The deadline for participation must be strictly observed, and filings submitted after the deadline will only be accepted in demonstrably extraordinary circumstances and with leave of the Tribunal. The Tribunal will issue a list of participants shortly thereafter.

The Tribunal will hold a hearing relating to this safeguard inquiry commencing on June 15, 2026. The Tribunal intends to hold a hybrid hearing in-person and via videoconference.

Written submissions, correspondence and requests for information should be addressed to the Registry of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal, at citt-tcce@tribunal.gc.ca. The Registry can also be reached by telephone at 613-993-3595.

Ottawa, March 16, 2026

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

PROCEDURE FOR E-FILING WITH THE TRIBUNAL

The public, counsel and self-represented participants may file documents electronically with the Tribunal through its Secure E-filing Service. The information is fully encrypted from the sender to the Tribunal.

Form I—Notice of Participation, Form II—Notice of Representation and Form III—Declaration and Undertaking should all be filed electronically through the Tribunal’s Secure E-filing Service.

Following receipt of completed forms I, II and III, the Tribunal will send to counsel and self-represented participants a letter with information on the E-registry Service and the filing of documents.

Service of Confidential Information Throughout the Proceeding

The Registry will issue instructions to all participants to the proceeding on how to file confidential materials with the Tribunal and serve confidential materials on other parties using its secure system following the deadline to submit forms.

Questionnaires

The Tribunal has posted bilingual questionnaires for: (1) domestic producers; (2) importers; (3) foreign producers of the subject goods; and (4) unions. Companies involved in the domestic production, import into Canada, or export to Canada of the subject goods should fill out the appropriate questionnaire(s). Replies to questionnaires must be filed with the Tribunal no later than April 10, 2026. The replies and a summary report will be put onto the record on May 5, 2026. Interested parties will then have an opportunity to make submissions to the Tribunal.

Case Management Conference

On April 13, 2026, commencing at 1:30 p.m. (ET), the Tribunal intends to conduct a case management conference (CMC) with counsel who have filed a Form II—Notice of Representation and parties who have filed a Form I—Notice of Participation. The purpose of the CMC is for the Tribunal to explain the case management procedures for this inquiry. The Tribunal also intends to address the question of expert witnesses and procedures in that regard, if necessary. Parties that intend to present an expert witness are requested to advise the Tribunal, by no later than April 7, 2026.

Written Materials

Parties may file written submissions and supporting materials. Written case briefs for all parties, including governments, must be filed by the dates indicated in the inquiry schedule appended to this notice. If any party wants to have the possibility of presenting oral argument or cross-examining witnesses at the hearing, it must file a written case brief by the appropriate deadline. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal Rules require documents to be filed electronically.

Confidentiality

Parties should endeavour to base their submissions exclusively on public information. However, if parties file information with the Tribunal that they wish to be kept confidential, they must provide, in accordance with section 46 of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Act and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Rules, a statement designating the information as confidential, together with an explanation as to why that information is designated as confidential. Parties must also submit either a non-confidential summary of the information designated as confidential, or a statement indicating why such a summary cannot be provided. Further information regarding the treatment of confidential information in proceedings before the Tribunal can be found in the Tribunal’s Confidentiality Guidelines.

Parties must ensure that only information that is genuinely confidential is redacted from the confidential versions of their submissions.

Limited disclosure should be arranged between parties without the Tribunal’s involvement. The Confidentiality Guidelines provide further information on limited disclosure, and the Tribunal has a limited disclosure form available to assist parties in this regard.

PUBLIC HEARING

The Tribunal will hold a hybrid public hearing commencing on June 15, 2026. The in-person portion will take place in Hearing Room No. 1, 18th Floor, 333 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, Ontario. A link to join the virtual portion of the hearing will be published on the website closer to the hearing date. The Tribunal will hear submissions on injury and remedy together.

Interpretation at the Hearing

To facilitate management of interpretation requirements:

● 25 days prior to the hearing (May 21, 2026), parties are to advise the Tribunal and all parties, in writing, which language(s) their counsel and witnesses will be using.

● At least twenty (20) days before the hearing (May 26, 2026), and pursuant to subrule 23(4) of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal Rules, parties must notify the Tribunal and all other parties in writing of any requirement for interpretation services in one of the official languages of Canada. To ensure the efficient use of interpretation resources, parties must indicate which specific testimonies or portions of the hearing will require interpretation and identify the language of the testimony. If interpretation is required in a language other than Canada’s two official languages, parties must arrange and bear the cost of the service and coordinate all related logistics with the Registry.

NO REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION OR MATTERS ARISING

Due to the short timeframe allocated to the Tribunal to conduct the inquiry, there will be no Request for Information or Matters Arising processes.

NO PRODUCT EXCLUSIONS PROCESS

Parties are directed not to request exclusions from safeguard measures for specific products, producers, exporters, regions, etc., as these matters are outside the scope of the inquiry.

General

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal Rules will be followed in this inquiry, as varied or supplemented by the Tribunal. Detailed information on written materials including the completion of questionnaires, the organization and conduct of the hearing, procedural matters, preliminary matters, and the product description, are set out in Appendices to this Notice. The Appendices are available on the Tribunal’s website.

Ottawa, March 16, 2026

 

INQUIRY REVIEW SCHEDULE

 

 

Appendix A

DESCRIPTION DU PRODUIT

 

 

Appendix B

DIRECTIONS CONCERNING WRITTEN MATERIALS

General

Parties should consult the Tribunal’s Guidelines on filing of documents, which prescribe requirements for written materials such as providing them in searchable PDF format.[1]

In light of the limited time frame provided to the Tribunal to conduct this inquiry and of the large number of parties and volume of documents that the Tribunal anticipates it will have before it, parties and counsel should make every effort to file concise submissions and include only those supporting materials that are relevant to and probative of the matters at issue.^[2] Parties shall avoid repetition in their submissions and focus their arguments.[3]

Additionally, parties shall adhere to the following directions for the organization, size and page format of their written submissions.

Case Briefs and Reply Briefs

Case briefs and reply briefs are to include four separate sections:

“A – Injury”;

“B – Remedy”;

“C – Witness Statements”;

“D – Evidence”

Parties not wishing to comment on Injury or Remedy, or not presenting a witness or supporting documentation, may omit the relevant sections.

Reply briefs, and the exhibits submitted in support of reply briefs, shall be limited to what is necessary to rebut the arguments made and the evidence presented by parties on the opposed side. Parties who wish to challenge an opposing party’s evidence should do so in their reply briefs and must include evidence supporting their challenge. The Tribunal will disregard portions of the reply briefs that are not rebuttal.

Section A – Injury

In addressing the issue of injury and threat of injury, the written submissions should cover the following elements, each of which shall be discussed in a separate section under a heading clearly announcing its content:

● The like or directly competitive goods in Canada;

● What constitutes domestic production of like or directly competitive goods in Canada and who are the domestic producers of those goods;

● Whether there has been a significant increase in the importation of the subject goods into Canada, either absolutely or relative to the production in Canada of like or directly competitive goods;

● Whether any increase in the importation into Canada of the subject goods results from (i) unforeseen developments, such measures taken or considered by WTO Members to restrict importation of the subject goods into their markets; and (ii) the effect of tariff concessions made by Canada;

● Whether any increase of importation into Canada of the subject goods is recent, sudden, sharp and significant, both quantitatively and qualitatively;[4]

● Whether any increase in the importation of the subject goods is a principal cause of serious injury or threat thereof, having regard to:

● The effect of the subject goods on price trends of like or directly competitive goods in Canada, taking into consideration whether the prices of the subject goods have significantly undercut the prices of like or directly competitive goods produced and sold in Canada, and whether the effect of the importation into Canada of the subject goods has been to depress significantly the prices of like or directly competitive goods produced and sold in Canada, or to limit to a significant degree increases in the prices of like or directly competitive goods produced and sold in Canada;

● The impact of the subject goods on domestic producers of like or directly competitive goods in Canada, taking into consideration all relevant economic factors that have a bearing on the domestic producers of like or directly competitive goods or on workers producing such goods, including the actual and potential changes in the level of production, employment, sales, market share, profits and losses, productivity, return on investments, utilization of production capacity, cash flow, inventories, the terms and conditions of employment, growth or ability to raise capital or investments;

● Any factors other than an increase in subject imports that have caused or threaten to cause serious injury to domestic producers of like or directly competitive goods in Canada;

● As directed in the Order in Council, the Tribunal will address the following:

● Whether imports of subject goods originating in the United States and Mexico account for a substantial share of total imports of the subject goods and contribute – either alone or, in exceptional circumstances, together with the goods of the same kind imported from each other CUSMA country – importantly to any serious injury or threat thereof;

● Whether imports of subject goods originating in Israel or another CIFTA beneficiary, or Chile account for a substantial share of total imports of the subject goods and contribute importantly to any serious injury or threat thereof;

● Whether imports of subject goods originating in Panama, Peru, Colombia or Korea are a principal cause of any serious injury or threat thereof;

● If the Tribunal determines that imports of subject goods

● originating in any CUSMA country, Israel or another CIFTA beneficiary, or Chile do not account for a substantial share of total imports or do not contribute importantly to serious injury or threat thereof; and/or

● originating in Panama, Peru, Colombia or Korea are not a principal cause of serious injury or threat thereof;

whether the subject goods are imported into Canada from all other sources in such increased quantities and under such conditions as to be a principal cause of serious injury or threat thereof to domestic producers of like or directly competitive goods;

● Whether increased imports are likely to remain or to continue to increase under such conditions as to threaten to cause serious injury to domestic producers until the end of 2027, taking into account the consequences of any trade measures by WTO Members on the importation of vegetable goods into their markets.

In addition, written submissions should provide a forecast for your company under the following two scenarios:

1) in the event that no safeguard measure is imposed; and

2) in the event that a safeguard measure is imposed. For purposes of assuming a safeguard measure, parties should provide responses based on their own proposed remedy.

These forecasts should address the following factors for your company:

● Imports (i.e., both company’s own imports and overall import volume into Canada)

● Domestic Sales (all sources)

● Market Share

● Export Sales (all sources)

● Inventories

● Capacity Utilization Rate

● Employment, Wage, and Hours Worked

● Net Income

● Gross Margin

● Cash Flow

● Return on Fixed Assets

● Growth

● Ability to Raise Capital

● Investments

● Production Development

● Other Relevant Factors

Section B – Remedy

In addressing the issue of proposed remedy in the event that the Tribunal finds serious injury or threat thereof, the written submissions should cover the following elements, each of which shall be discussed in a separate section under a heading clearly announcing its content:

● Trends in the domestic demand for vegetable goods and domestic producers’ prices in 2026 and until end of year 2027;

● Trends in world demand and prices for vegetable goods in 2026 and until end of year 2027;

● The remedy that the Tribunal should recommend (e.g. tariff, TRQ);

● The anticipated difference in effects between the potential remedies (e.g. tariff, TRQ);

● The appropriateness of the proposed remedy given the purpose of the safeguard remedy and the trends in domestic demand and prices;

● The method to be used to calculate the proposed remedy (e.g. tariff-rate calculation, how should the TRQ base volume be calculated, how should the in and out of quota be calculated);

● The effect of the proposed remedy on the prices and volume of sales of the imports and on the domestically produced vegetable goods;

● The effect of the proposed remedy on the users of the vegetable goods, including their costs of production; and

● The anticipated impact of the potential remedies on the affordability for consumers of certain vegetable goods and food security.

Section C – Witness Statements

Parties who intend to present witnesses shall file, for each witness, a witness statement that conveys the essential elements of their testimony. Each party will be limited to proposing three (3) witnesses, including any expert witnesses.

As discussed in Appendix C, not all witnesses may be permitted to appear before the Tribunal. However, as part of their reply briefs, parties may suggest witnesses (both supporting and adverse) that would be most helpful to the inquiry and areas of questioning that they consider of particular relevance. The submissions should set out why the areas of questioning are of relevance to the inquiry.

Section D – Evidence

Submissions should include evidence, e.g. documents and sources that support the factual statements contained in the submissions. Evidence supporting a party’s written submissions relating to injury and remedy could include, for example, internal and public information, such as statistical data, market analyses, and vegetable goods-related publications and reports. In its written submissions, a party shall make clear reference to relevant parts of the documents that are included as part of its supporting evidence.

That said, parties shall limit the submission of exhibits to what is necessary to make their case. Where only part of a document is needed to support a party’s argument, that party shall only include the relevant excerpts and, where feasible, highlight the relevant portions. Moreover, the Tribunal seeks to avoid a repetition of the evidence before it and in particular seeks to avoid having the same exhibits filed by multiple parties. This applies in particular to the standard data that parties typically reference before the Tribunal.

The Tribunal encourages parties supporting the adoption of a safeguard measure and those parties opposing it to each coordinate the submission of evidence such that only one party on each side places a given exhibit on the record, which the other parties can then cross-reference.

Page and File Size Limits

Case briefs, reply briefs and aids-to-argument (excluding cover pages and tables of contents) shall be subject to page limits. These parameters will be strictly enforced. The Tribunal will disregard any pages that exceed the limits set out below.

Case briefs:

- Section A (injury): 30 pages

- Section B (remedy) 10 pages

- Section C (witness statements): 20 pages per witness

- Section D (exhibits accompanying the case brief, including exhibits in support of witness statements): 200 pages total (only essential documents or excerpts should be filed)

 

Reply briefs:

- Section A (injury): 15 pages

- Section B (remedy): 5 pages

- Section C (reply witness statements): 10 pages per witness

- Section D (exhibits accompanying the reply submission, including exhibits in support of reply witness statements): 80 pages total (only essential documents or excerpts should be filed)

Aid-to-argument: 10 pages

 

Additionally, replies to all Tribunal questionnaires, including any appendices filed with such replies, cannot exceed 200 pages.

In accordance with the Tribunal’s Guidelines on filing of documents, each document must not exceed a file size of 100 MB. If a document is larger than 100 MB, it must be divided into separate parts with a cover page for each.

Page Format

Submissions shall respect the following requirements:

● Page size: 21.5 cm by 28 cm (letter size)

● Font: Calibri font size 12 or a comparable font and font size[5] for all text, including quotations from authorities; Calibri font size 11 or a comparable font and font size for footnotes.

● Line spacing: At least one and one half (1.5) lines apart, except for block quotations, which must be indented and single-spaced. Footnotes shall be single-spaced.

● Margins (top, bottom, left and right): Not less than 2.5 cm / 1 inch.

Citations

Submissions shall respect the Tribunal’s practice notice regarding Citing authorities.

 

Appendix C

ORGANIZATION OF HEARING

Given the scope of the inquiry and the short time frame with which the Tribunal has to work, the Tribunal will not have the time to hear oral testimony and argument from all parties to the extent it could in a hearing of a longer duration. Therefore, the Tribunal will use the hearing to clarify and examine the evidence in the Statistical Summary, replies to questionnaires and the case briefs and reply briefs filed by the parties. This is the evidence on which the Tribunal will rely primarily in making its determinations relating to injury and remedy.

Witnesses to appear at the hearing may be selected by the Tribunal, from among those who have filed witness statements, taking account of the matters that the Tribunal considers require clarification. All those who will be filing witness statements should plan to make themselves available on all the dates of the hearing although they may not be called. The Tribunal will inform parties of the witnesses it intends to call, before the hearing.

Each party will advise the Registry whether they or their witness will be participating in the hearing in-person or by videoconference and confirm whether their client accepts the risks of discussing confidential information on Cisco Webex. The Registry will provide more details by letter once participants have been identified.

The hearing will have three components:

● Up to 1 hour of questions by the Tribunal to the witnesses for domestic producers. There will be no examination-in-chief. Parties opposing will then have up to 80 minutes in total to address questions to the witnesses, followed by up to 40 minutes in total of redirect questions by domestic producers.

● Up to 1 hour of questions by the Tribunal to witnesses for foreign producers, importers and parties supporting them. Domestic producers will then have up to 80 minutes in total to address questions to the witnesses, followed by up to 40 minutes in total of redirect questions.

● Argument starting with the domestic producers (90 minutes), followed by other parties (90 minutes) and then rebuttal by the domestic producers (15 minutes).

During the hearing, the Registry will ensure that the time allocation for each component of the hearing is respected.

Parties on the same side are each encouraged to come to an agreement on allocations of time between themselves with respect to addressing questions to witnesses and presenting argument or to having a representative spokesperson. Parties should advise the Registry of their agreements 10 days in advance of the hearing.

For the hearing, parties may submit an aid-to-argument. The aid-to-argument must be submitted by 8:00 a.m. (ET) on the day of their argument. The aids to argument should not exceed ten pages, and must comply with the relevant Directions Concerning Written Materials.

There will be no filing of additional documentary evidence during the hearing except under exceptional circumstances. In addition, there will be no time set aside during the hearing for “procedural” or “preliminary” matters. Appendix D provides specific time frames and parameters for raising and responding to procedural or preliminary matters prior to the commencement of the hearing. The purpose of the deadline for procedural and preliminary matters is to facilitate the progress of the inquiry by avoiding procedural issues that can be handled prior to the hearings. Unless for exceptional circumstances, all parties are expected to bring any potential procedural issues to the attention of the Tribunal at the earliest opportunity, prior to this deadline.

Appendix D

RAISING AND RESPONDING TO PROCEDURAL OR PRELIMINARY MATTERS

As the Tribunal anticipates a very high rate of participation, parties and counsel are encouraged to show flexibility with each other and to keep procedural objections to a minimum.

The Tribunal has established the following rules for the handling of procedural or preliminary matters:

1) Parties wishing to raise any procedural or preliminary matters are to do so, in writing, no later than June 8, 2026.

2) When raising a procedural or preliminary matter that requires a ruling by the Tribunal, the request should be made by email and briefly set out the nature of the request, the ruling sought, and the factual and legal basis for the request (i.e., 2-page maximum).

3) A request referred to in paragraph 2 shall be served on counsel and parties of record by email at the same time that it is filed with the Tribunal.

4) Any party wishing to respond to a request referred to in paragraph 2 shall do so by email within two business days of receipt of the request, briefly setting out their position including the factual and legal basis for their position (i.e., 2-page maximum).

5) A response referred to in paragraph 4 shall be served on counsel and parties of record by email at the same time that it is filed with the Tribunal.

6) If a party responds to a request, the party that made the initial request will have one business day to file a rebuttal by email (i.e., 2-page maximum), copying counsel and parties of record.

7) The Tribunal will wait until the above steps have been completed before making a ruling on the matter. If a response or reply is not submitted within the prescribed time frame, the Tribunal will make a ruling based on materials properly submitted.