WASHINGTON – The London Court of International Arbitration ruled Tuesday that Canada violated the 2006 Softwood Lumber Agreement by failing to implement required export quotas on Canadian lumber during a “surge” in such shipments in early 2007, the office of U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe announced.

But the court also decided against the United States by finding that British Columbia and Alberta had not failed to pay sufficient surge export taxes on their lumber during that period.

The tribunal will now decide on an appropriate remedy to address Canada’s breach of the agreement with proceedings expected over the next few months, according to the Coalition for Fair Lumber Imports, an alliance of large and small lumber producers in the U.S.

“While I am pleased that the panel recognized that Canada had failed to honor its commitments to implement export restraints during the months it was flooding the U.S. market with cheap lumber, I am disappointed with their decision to allow the provinces responsible for the greatest portion of the problem to evade export taxes by ignoring expected sales to the United States, counter to the intent of the parties,” Snowe, R-Maine, said in a statement. “With Canada also violating its obligations not to introduce new subsidies and to fully collect the primary export taxes required by the agreement, this decision only confirms the need for tougher enforcement action against Canada.”

The lumber coalition also had a mixed reaction to the ruling.

“The coalition is pleased that the tribunal came to the only correct determination in this case relating to quota volumes,” said the group’s chairman, Steve Swanson.