Pope & Talbot, launched a NAFTA Claim in March 1999 challenging irregularities in the process by which export quota was allocated to its Canadian subsidiary in British Columbia. The NAFTA claim was about Canada’s implementation of the Canada-US Softwood Lumber Agreement.

In May 2002, the NAFTA Tribunal ordered Canada to pay damages arising from egregious government behaviour which resulted in the temporary closure of Pope & Talbot’s three British Columbia lumber mills in 1999 due to threats made to the Company’s softwood lumber export quota by Canada’s Softwood Lumber Division. The NAFTA Tribunal also concluded in an earlier award that officials in Canada’s Softwood Lumber Division breached international law standards in how they treated this US-based company.

News

31.05.02 | NAFTA Tribunal awards damages to Pope & Talbot arising from Canada's breach of its NAFTA obligations.