Establishment of the Pre-market Approval Submissions Office for Plant and Animal Health Products

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will establish the Pre-market Approval Submissions Office as part of the Agency's efforts to improve the administration of its regulatory services related to plant and animal health products.

Streamlining the administrative processes for pre-market approval submissions for plant and animal health products will contribute to the efficiency and consistency of these CFIA services to industry and to the timely introduction of safe products into the Canadian marketplace.

The Submissions Office will provide stakeholders with a single location for submissions that require CFIA pre-market approval, including those for:

• Veterinary biologics (e.g., animal vaccines)
• Livestock feed ingredients
• Plant Breeders' Rights
• Fertilizers and supplements
• Crop varieties subject to registration
• Plants with novel traits

The Submissions Office will:

• Provide information about the requirements for the applicant's particular products
• Provide the applicant with any necessary submission forms
• Check submissions for completeness
• Notify applicants of submission acceptance and/or the identification of administrative submission deficiencies
• Process relevant fees, and
• Provide information on the progress of a submission.

All individual programs will continue to accept and process pre-market product submissions until the Submissions Office is operational in April 2014. The CFIA will be engaging stakeholders as this process is rolled out.