As we have written here before, proving bias tends to be an
uphill battle. Because of that, this ground of complaint is rarely
pursued in tax or trade appeals. That may be changing, given a
recent ruling of the Ontario Court of Appeal ("ONCA") in
a trade remedy case, which confirmed that if a
complainant can prove a "reasonable
apprehension of bias" in the decision-making process, the
entire decision must be overturned!
In this Tax Appeals Series blog, we review that decision and
examine the potentially HUGE consequences that can follow.
Background
In Vento Motorcycles, Inc. v. United Mexican
States, 2025 ONCA 82 ("Vento"), an American
company brought a claim against Mexico under the North
American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") —
which was still in effect at the time of the complaint —
alleging that Mexico had improperly denied them preferential import
tariffs.
