Development of New Import Protocols - Procedures for Clients

TAHD-DSAT-IE-2003-3-8
February 13, 2013

Amendments: Changes in the address of which the request is to be sent to.

The Animal Import/Export Division (AIED) of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is responsible for the decision to allow or prohibit importation of animals, animal germplasm and animal-sourced products because of the associated level of animal disease risk. AIED may establish specific conditions under which importation may proceed, e.g., testing and/or quarantine, in order to safeguard the Canadian animal health status.

To establish the above, an evaluation of the disease risk associated with imports must be conducted for the importation of a new species (animal or product) and/or the importation of an already assessed species from a new country. This applies to any commodity/country combination where the CFIA does not currently have import conditions listed on the CFIA's Automated Import Reference System (AIRS).

The main tools used in this process consist of a country assessment and a hazard identification:

• Country assessments provide us with information on the current status of an exporting country for diseases which have been identified as hazards for the commodity in question, as well as information on the country's import controls, surveillance procedures, control measures, etc.
• A hazard identification is completed for a species or animal product and identifies all the diseases of concern relative to that species/commodity that need to be considered when developing an import protocol to ensure we safeguard Canada's animal population and health status.

Each initial request will be reviewed to determine the level of evaluation required. Within approximately three weeks of receipt of the letter of request, the client will be provided with a response which indicates one of the following:

1. Request to be refused based on already established barriers, for example, live cattle from countries not considered by Canada to be of negligible risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
2. Evaluation to be conducted within the Terrestrial Animal Health Division as one or both of the required tools is already established (i.e. bovine embryos from Spain). We currently have a hazard table for bovine embryos and have sufficient knowledge of the veterinary infrastructure in Spain. Spain is also a member of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and reports regularly on their animal health status for reportable diseases.
3. If one of the required tools is not established. A decision will be provided indicating whether or not a full risk assessment is required.
4. If neither of the required tools is established, the request will be submitted for full risk assessment. These assessments are submitted on a first-come, first-served basis to the National Manager of the Animal Health Risk Assessment Unit for addition to their priority list.

Please note the following:

Evaluations can take on average anywhere from two months to a year to conduct. You will be provided with an estimated time of completion within four weeks of the formal request.

If it is determined that a visit to the country of export is a requirement to collect data relevant to the evaluation, the costs associated with the travel of a CFIA employee/s will be the responsibility of the client.

Depending on the type of evaluation required, extra fees will be imposed for the issuance of import permits for a two year period from the date a new protocol is implemented:

Although a risk assessment is conducted, this does not guarantee that upon completion import conditions can be developed because the assessment may determine that the risk is unacceptable.

All requests must be submitted in the form of a letter addressed to:

Ms. Francine Forest
Animal Import/Export Division
59 Camelot Drive, Room 3W-112
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1A 0Y9
Facsimile: 613-773-7515

Please ensure you provide the following details in your letter in order to prevent any delays in the initial review process: background, a full description of the commodity, the volume, quantity, frequency and time-frames of the proposed importation and any additional information you feel may be helpful to the evaluation.