Canada: When the Supreme Court of Justice decides the debate
Field hockey is like a religion in Canada, so when the sports company Igloo Vinski found itself in a dispute over goalie gloves, the case went to the Supreme Court. It’s a groundbreaking case because it represents the Supreme Court’s first foray into the world of the Customs Tariff.
The customs problem
It all started when the sports company Igloo Vinski imported gloves that were made partly of plastic and partly of textile materials. They could therefore be classified under headings 39.26 and 62.16. However, according to some, the plastic components did not deprive the gloves of their character as “gloves of textile materials.” The gloves were to be classified as “gloves, mittens and mitts” under heading 62.16, not as “other articles of plastics” under heading 39.26 because the gloves were not made of plastic sheets sewn or glued together, according to an HS Explanatory Note to heading 39.26.
The legal facts of the case
Several Canadian institutions played a role in this case, namely: the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT); the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA); the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC).
The CITT had first ruled in favour of the Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) decision to classify the field hockey goalie gloves imported by Igloo Vikski under heading 62.16 rather than 39.26 as requested by Igloo Vikski, which appealed the decision. The FCA then overturned the CITT’s decision in favor of Igloo Vikski. This would radically change the way imports are classified in Canada. Moreover, this decision was contrary to previous case law. For these reasons, CBSA’s appeal of the FCA decision was appealed to the Supreme Court. In the end, the SCC judge gave more weight to the CITT’s decision and in the future, other judicial bodies will give more weight to the CITT’s decisions.
The Igloo Vikski decision is an important decision for importers of multi-material goods. Case law is a valuable source of information for the classification of goods. As we have seen, it played a major role in the decision to accept the appeal to the Supreme Court. Although classification issues can sometimes be thorny, with enough information at hand, the classification of goods can be done with confidence. This is what we strive to do in our grading application.
More information on: https://customsbridge.ai/
