Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson issued the following statement on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s preliminary determination to eliminate duties on Catalyst’s exports of supercalendared paper:

“As we expected, the expedited review revealed that Catalyst did not receive any measurable government subsidies during the year investigated (2014) and if the U.S. Department of Commerce upholds this decision in their final determination, Catalyst will be excluded from further proceedings in this case.

“While we are pleased with the results of the preliminary determination, it does not alleviate the economic hardship Catalyst has endured in paying duties since August 2015, nor the legal expenses participants paid to defend against these unwarranted allegations.

“The British Columbia government has been open and transparent in these proceedings, and we  look forward to a final determination in February 2017 that  reaffirms that Catalyst should not be subject to duties and results in the duties it has paid being refunded.”