U.S. and Canadian Governments Have Established Mechanisms to Monitor Compliance with the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement but Face Operational Challenges Page: 2 of 23
This text is part of the collection entitled: Government Accountability Office Reports and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
requires GAO to report on (1) whether countries that export softwood lumber or softwood
lumber products to the United States are complying with international agreements entered
into by those countries and the United States; and (2) the effectiveness of the U.S.
government in carrying out the reconciliations and verifications mandated by the Softwood
Lumber Act.5
This letter contains information in response to the first mandate concerning compliance with
international softwood lumber agreements. In accordance with our agreement with the
Senate Committee on Finance and the House Ways and Means Committee, we will issue a
separate report in December 2009 that will supply additional information and findings on U.S.
efforts to monitor compliance and will also address U.S. efforts to reconcile and verify
softwood value data. We focused on Canada because it is the only country with which the
United States has an agreement specifically related to softwood lumber and is by far the
largest exporter of softwood lumber to the United States. We are not conducting a legal
review of compliance with the Softwood Lumber Agreement. Our objectives in this review
are to describe (1) U.S. government agency efforts to monitor compliance with the
agreement, including cooperating with the Canadian government, (2) operational challenges
agencies face in monitoring compliance, and (3) current compliance concerns.
To address these objectives, we obtained and reviewed information from the Departments of
Commerce (Commerce), Justice (DOJ), and State (State), the Office of the U.S. Trade
Representative (USTR), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) within the Department of
Homeland Security to identify their efforts to monitor and enforce compliance with the
agreement. We also interviewed knowledgeable officials from these agencies. In addition,
we obtained and reviewed information from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade (DFAIT), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), Natural Resources Canada
(NRCan), and the British Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range. We also traveled to
Ottawa and British Columbia to interview officials from DFAIT, CRA, NRCan, and the British
Columbia Ministry of Forests and Range to better understand Canadian efforts to comply
with the agreement and coordination between the U.S. and Canadian governments related to
the agreement. We also interviewed officials from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.
In addition, we interviewed industry representatives in both the United States and Canada to
obtain their perspective on the U.S. monitoring efforts. We determined that the data and
information used are sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this report.
We provided a draft of this correspondence to Commerce, CBP, DOJ, State, and USTR. The
agencies provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate. Commerce
also commented formally that it agrees with the conclusion that operational challenges exist
in several areas and that the report fairly captures the nature of the U.S. and Canadian
governments' positions on these issues.
We conducted this engagement from December 2008 to June 2009 in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and
perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for
our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence
obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit
objectives.GAO-09-764R Softwood Lumber Compliance Monitoring
619 U.S.C. 1683g.
Page 2
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This text can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Text.
United States. Government Accountability Office. U.S. and Canadian Governments Have Established Mechanisms to Monitor Compliance with the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement but Face Operational Challenges, text, June 18, 2009; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc302078/m1/2/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.