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Food > Meat and Poultry Products > Manual of Procedures > Chapter 10 CHAPTER 10 - IMPORTSWhile various political and trade considerations play a role in developing policies and in the over-all decision making process, there are two major factors to be considered in arriving at a decision on whether to accept or refuse any particular importation of meat products, no matter what the amount involved. These are consumer protection and animal disease control. With the above two factors in mind, an approval system for the importation of meat products has been developed which is based on the approval of a country's system of meat inspection, approval of establishments operating within that system, and approval of individual meat products prepared in these establishments. Following a request from a particular country for approval of its meat inspection system, a review of all relevant legislation and related technical information, including residue monitoring program is conducted. If the country concerned provides legislation equivalent to our own, a visit is made to the country to study the actual implementation of the legislation in establishments. Based on satisfactory findings during the visit, establishments wishing to export to Canada are approved. During the visit, or in later correspondence, details in regard to certification or any special inspection procedure are worked out. Depending on the animal disease situation in that particular country, notification of any restrictions on the type of meat product which may be exported to Canada is given to the relevant authorities. Establishments which are approved are then free to submit samples, formulations and labels which are registered in the same manner as those for Canadian meat products. Establishments approved for export to Canada are periodically reviewed, and such reviews result either in continued approval or delisting. By means of the approval system with periodic reviews, restrictions on certain types of meat products, certification, formulations and label registrations, the Branch attempts to ensure that its obligations with respect to consumer protection and animal disease control are met. As an additional measure, Canada requires that all commercial shipments of imported meat products are subjected to monitoring and/or inspection on entry. Also, certificates and label registrations are verified before a shipment can be accepted. A list of countries, of which the meat inspection system has been approved, is provided in Annex A. In the case of certain countries, the meat inspection system as a whole has not been approved. Importation may therefore be limited to meat products in a particular category. As previously indicated, restrictions may be placed on the type of meat product which can be permitted entry into Canada from any given country, depending on the status of that country with regard to serious animal diseases. A list of countries to which these restrictions do not apply is provided in Annex B. In the case of those countries which are not considered free from serious animal disease, importations are normally limited to the following:
Certain categories of meat products are exempt from the requirements of section 9 of the Meat Inspection Act and do not have to be dealt with in the manner described below. These are specified in Section 3(1) of the Regulations (See also 1.4 and Annex D of Chapter 1). There are however some additional types of shipments which fall under the general category of exempted products:
10.2.1 Official Meat Inspection Certificate (O.M.I.C.) The only acceptable form of the Official Meat Inspection Certificate for exporting meat products to Canada is that of the certificate showed in Annex F, except for U.S. In this latter case, the O.M.I.C. to be used is shown in Annex G. It will be the responsibility of the exporting country to reproduce the certificate. The certificate can be printed on different sizes of paper (for example: 21.5 cm x 28 cm or 21 cm x 30 cm, etc.). Since a specific size of paper is not required, there should be sufficient space in the title of each entry, following mandatory English and French versions, for individual countries to print the title in any other language they so desire. The word "original" must be printed on the original certificate. If a multipart certificate form is used, then the multiple copies must have either the word "copy" or "duplicate" printed on them. The name of the country or official country stamp must be printed between box numbers 3 and 4, just above the title "Official Meat Inspection Certificate for Exporting Meat Products to Canada". The certificates are to be numbered consecutively in box number 3, immediately following the country code, for example, AUS 00001 (see 10.2.1.(3)). This same number will be required to be stamped on all the shipping cartons of product covered by that certificate. An alternative to the latter will be the use of shipping marks. In this case, these shipping marks must not be used again for at least one year. The certificate number or the shipping marks stamped on the cartons must be legible and, if applied by the use of a glued-on label, this label must be tamper evident when an attempt is made to remove it. If some countries want to add vertical lines between item numbers 11, 12, 13, or 14, this is acceptable. Also, in item number 14, a country may use only one of the weight units or both such as kg or lbs or kg ( ) lbs ( ). Any other modification of the Official Meat Inspection Certificate will result in invalidating the certificate and consequently to the refusal of the shipment. 10.2.1(1) GUIDELINES FOR COMPLETING THE OFFICIAL MEAT INSPECTION CERTIFICATE
Acceptable and Unacceptable Official Meat Inspection Certificates (O.M.I.C.) Foreign O.M.I.C. must be complete, accurate, and legible to be acceptable. However, to some degree, exceptions may be allowed. The following guidelines should help import inspectors to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable certificates. Only original certificates with an original signature of the foreign government official authorized to issue the certificate are acceptable. The name of the signing official must also be clearly and legibly typed or printed. Photocopies and carbon copies of health certificates are not acceptable except where replacement certificate guarantee has been accepted by FAOD in Ottawa (see 10.2.1.(5)). Certificates are not acceptable if any of the item descriptions listed below are erased, typed over, altered, or changed by any other means. If this occurs, the certificate shall be refused and a replacement certificate must be obtained if the meat product is to be considered for importation.
Certificates which contain obvious misspelled words may be accepted. See Annex A of this Chapter. Argentina ARG Australia AUS Austria AUT Belgium BEL Brazil BRA China CHN Cook Islands COK Costa Rica CRI Denmark DNK Finland FIN France FRA Germany DEU Great Britain GBR Hungary HUN Iceland ISL Ireland (Republic of) IRL Israel ISR Italy ITA Mexico MEX Netherlands NLD New Zealand NZL Nicaragua NIC Paraguay PRY Poland POL Portugal PRT Puerto Rico PRI Republic of Slovenia SVN Romania ROM Switzerland CHE Thailand THA United States USA Uruguay URY Yugoslavia YUG 10.2.1(4) Replacement of an official meat inspection certificate When an O.M.I.C. is replaced by another one for whatever reason, one of the following statements must be on the certificate: "Issued in lieu of certificate No. __________" or "This certificate replaced certificate No. _________" or Any statement similar to the ones above. In the case of countries stamping the export certificate number on the shipping cartons (boxes), the following additional statement is required: "The export certificate number on the shipping cartons (boxes) covered by this certificate shows certificate number ___________". Any statement similar to the one above. 10.2.1(5) Guaranteed replacement certificates for meat products imported from the U.S.A. Copies of guaranteed replacement official meat inspection certificates from U.S.A. may be accepted in lieu of the originals to allow import procedure to continue. The guarantee is given by the exporter to the effect that the original certificate shall be delivered to the Food of Animal Origin Division (FAOD) within 30 calendar days of the issue of the guarantee. When a shipment of US product is detained at the border by a CFIA inspector for certification defects the original certificate is to be stamped or marked with "Refused entry" and the pre-clearance is to be validated as a refused entry on the CFIA 1422. The inspector then notifies the broker/importer of an unacceptable certificate. At the same time he/she also advises them that they have two working days to decide whether or not they plan to request a guaranteed replacement certificate and to notify the import inspector of their decision. Depending on the space available, the truck may be allowed to wait at the crossing or may have to be returned to the U.S.A. pending the decision and arrival of a copy of the guaranteed replacement certificate. If the import inspector is not notified that the request will be made or does not receive a notification from the broker/importer within the two day period, the involved product shall be returned to the U.S.A. A guaranteed pre-verified copy of the original replacement certificate (stamped with a special, guaranteed document verification stamp) may be accepted instead of the original to allow the shipment to be released at the border in case of a skip lot or to proceed to a re-inspection facility eligible to inspect meat products imported from the U.S.A. and to release the shipment following a successful re-inspection. a. Guarantee and Document Verification The guaranteed certificate must be processed at CFIA/FAOD in Ottawa as is the case for all other certification of meat products imported from the U.S.A. A copy of a duly signed guarantee form issued by the exporter must be faxed to the CFIA/FAOD in Ottawa along with the pre-verification form "Notification of Intent to Export Meat Products to Canada" and the replacement USDA export certificate to be verified. The guarantee form is available from the same source as the Intent to Export Form. The signature of the representative of the exporting U.S. establishment will be accepted in all cases as the proof of guarantee that the original replacement certificate will be delivered to: Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Food of Animal Origin Division, 59 Camelot Drive Nepean, Ontario K1A 0Y9 Canada C/O Maria Blair, Supervisor, Import Control and Data Information Centres within 30 working days from the signing date of the guarantee. The USDA export certificate must have a statement in the remarks section indicating that this is a replacement certificate and the number of the certificate it replaces, since the shipping cartons in the shipment will have that number stamped on them. The verified guaranteed certificate will be stamped with a stamp identifying the certificate as having been guaranteed. There must be no difference in information between the original replacement certificate and the verified guaranteed replacement copy of the certificate. b. Use of Guaranteed Copies The verified guaranteed copy of the certificate is to be delivered to the place where the shipment is being detained. It is the responsibility of the importer/broker to distribute all necessary copies of the guaranteed replacement certificate as is indicated in this procedure. In case of a skip lot, the shipment can be released at the border upon presentation of a copy of the guaranteed replacement certificate. In case of a full inspection, the shipment may be allowed to proceed to the place of re-inspection to be inspected and released if found to be acceptable and a copy of the guaranteed replacement certificate is in the inspector's possession. The guaranteed copies may be accepted and handled by the inspectors and regional import program coordinators in the same way as the original certificates. The usual procedure of entering the re-inspection results into the Import Control System as well as sending the documents to FAOD in Ottawa should be followed. The difference being that a copy of the guaranteed replacement certificate is sent to Ottawa instead of the usual original. c. Original Replacement Certificates The original guaranteed replacement certificate must be received at the CFIA/FAOD/Import Control in Ottawa within 30 working days from the signed date of the guarantee. Failing this, no other guarantees of replacement certificates from any U.S. exporter will be accepted until the offending original guaranteed replacement certificate is received in Ottawa. The FAOD shall track all the received guarantees. Copies of guaranteed replacement certificates should be handled and distributed by the import inspectors in the same way as they do with the original certificates at present. d. Delinquent Certificates The original refused certificates should be sent by the import inspector to FAOD in Ottawa. At the request by the importer the import inspector may provide the importer with the refused original certificate. In this instance a copy should be sent to FAOD in Ottawa. 10.2.2 Inspection Certificate for Inedible meat products Inedible meat products may be imported. Examples of certificates for inedible meat products from approved countries are provided in Annex H. 10.2.3 Import Inspection Report (CFIA 1422) Only one official meat inspection certificate (O.M.I.C.) number can be entered on each import inspection report (CFIA 1422). For Port of landing with computer system, the information will be entered into the computer which will generate the CFIA 1422. NOTE: If a shipment contains both boneless and bone-in cuts, they should be combined as "Bone-in". Shipments containing only boneless cuts would be classified as "Boneless". For example of the form see annex I. Where there is no computer system or when it is not functional, the form CFIA 1422 in Annex K must be filled out by hand. This form is divided into three sections: Section 1: Port: shall be completed by the inspector at the port of landing (letters a to i); Section 2: Inspection: shall be completed by the inspector at the establishment where the inspection is done (letters j to s); Section 3: Notice to remove product from Canada: shall be completed by the inspector who gives the notice (letters t to aa). 10.2.3(1) Completion of the Form The letters used below correspond to those indicated in the spaces on the sample form enclosed (see annex K).
A) Handwritten forms (i) Port of landing Pages 1 (green), 2 (yellow), 3 (pink) are to be forwarded to the inspector in charge at the designated inspection establishment. Page 4 (blue) is for the port inspector's file. (ii) Inspection establishment Pages 1 and 2 are to be forwarded to the regional office with the original meat inspection certificate and any other relevant documentation, e.g., form CFIA 2479, form CFIA 1418 attached to the back of page 1. Page 3 is for the inspector's file. (iii) Regional office Page 1 is to be forwarded to headquarters with the original meat inspection certificate and any other relevant documentation, e.g. form CFIA 2479, form CFIA 1418 attached to the back of the CFIA 1422. B) Computer Generated Forms (i) Port of landing Three (3) copies are to be forwarded to the inspector in charge at the designated inspection establishment. One copy is for the port inspector's file. (ii) Inspection establishment One copy is to be forwarded to the regional office with the original meat inspection certificate and any other relevant documentation, e.g., form CFIA 2479, form CFIA 1418. One copy for the inspector's file. (iii) Regional office One copy is to be forwarded to headquarters with the original meat inspection certificate and any other relevant documentation, e.g. form CFIA 2479, form CFIA 1418 attached to the back of the CFIA 1422. Note:In the case of skip lots from the U.S., see 10.3.2.(7). In the event that the inspector receives pages 1, 2 and 3 prior to the arrival of a shipment, he should wait for 72 hours and if he has not received notice of its arrival at the inspection establishment, he must make enquiries as to the whereabouts of the shipment. If he is unable to trace the shipment, then he shall immediately notify his regional office in order that it can take steps to trace the shipment. This is most important, in respect of controlling the movement of shipments which have not yet been subject to inspection. Should an inspector at an inspection point receive a shipment which had been destined to another inspection point, he shall immediately, notify his regional office which, in turn, shall relay this information to the appropriate person. Inspectors responsible for establishments where imported meat products are stored and which have not yet been inspected, must maintain tight control over such product, until inspection is completed. |
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