Panel Report, Canada/Japan -- Tariff on imports of Spruce, Pine, Fir (SPF) dimension lumber, adopted 19 July 1989
WTO
1989 BISD 36S/167.
WTO, (1989), "Panel Report, Canada/Japan -- Tariff on imports of Spruce, Pine, Fir (SPF) dimension lumber, adopted 19 July 1989", BISD 36S/167.
Abstract:
"2.1 Canada explained that while lumber was generally thought of as a raw material, or a semi-finished product, that is further manufactured to produce a wide range of goods, dimension lumber is different. It is a highly standardized, finished product that leaves the manufacturing plant in its final form. It is not further manufactured before being used in its intended end-use of platform-frame construction. Dimension lumber is a building product. As such, it is more akin to a steel girder used in construction than it is to other forms of lumber.
2.2 Dimension lumber is produced from a number of species of trees, the two most common groupings for this use being the SPF and Hemlock-Fir (Hem-Fir), although other species can be and are used. Trees of different species tend to grow in stands of mixed species, many of which have similar properties. It is usually not practical, nor necessary, to separate logs by individual species before manufacture, so species groups were developed to accommodate these mixed growths. All the species within a group are harvested, processed, graded and marketed together. An individual species cannot be classifie d in more than one species group.
2.3 The lumber industry in North America comprises thousands of sawmills. The most common product of virtually all of these mills is dimension lumber. In fact many of these mills are designed with the sole objective of producing the single product of dimension lumber which is completely interchangeable in construction and competes freely in the marketplace. The manufacturing and lumber grading systems are designed to ensure that the lumber is produced to the same sizes and grades, regardless of mill or species of lumber. It is not uncommon, nor is it a problem, to find dimension lumber of different species, from different mills, being used on the same job-site in North America and in Japan ."
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