WORLD TRADE G/TBT/Notif.97.392
20August 1997
ORGANIZATION
(97-3429)
Committee onTechnical Barriers toTrade
NOTIFICATION
Thefollowing notification isbeing circulated inaccordance withArticle 10.6.
1. Member toAgreement notifying: CANADA
Ifapplicable, name oflocalgovernment involved (Articles 3.2and7.2):
2. Agency responsible: Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Agency orauthority designated tohandle comments regarding thenotification canbe
indicated ifdifferent from above:
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X],2.10.1 [],5.6.2 [],5.7.1 [],other:
4. Products covered (HSorCCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICSnumbers maybeprovided inaddition, where applicable): Fish
5. Title, number ofpages andlanguage(s) ofthenotified document: Proposed Amendment
totheFishInspection Regulations (pages 2194-2207)
6. Description ofcontent: Thisamendment istheresult oftheCanadian Food Inspection
Agency 's(CFIA) ongoing participation inregulatory review activities andconsequent
re-examination ofhowdomestic andimported fishinspection services areprovided and
imported fishinspection costrecovery isadministered.
Theintent ofthisamendment isto:
(1) Better protect public safety through theenactment ofregulations:
(i) requiring thatimporters ofcanned andready-to-eat fishandfish
products maintain records, available forreview byfishinspectors
upon request, which demonstrate thatthese processes are
adequate toproduce "safe" products;
(ii) banning theimport ofanyspecies ofhighly toxic, tropical
marine puffer fishofthefamily Tetraodontidae;
./.G/TBT/Notif.97.392
Page2
6. Description ofcontent: (cont'd)
(2) better facilitate theimport offishintoCanada anditsinspection through
theenactment ofregulations extending thetenets oftheQuality
Management Programme inplace forthedomestic fishprocessing
industry totheimport sector ofindustry through thecreation ofanew
importer licensing regime featuring quality management programme
import licences which willallow importers toconduct their own
inspections ofthefishtheyimport thereby allowing importers tomore
rapidly market theirimportations; and
(3) ensure thatimported fishcostrecovery feesaremore equitably shared
between licensed importers through theenactment ofregulations
replacing mostinspection services (i.e.notification) feesandallimported
fishinspection andanalysis feeswitharevenue neutral feecharged on
eachkilogram offishimported.
7. Objective andrationale: Protection ofhuman safety
8. Relevant documents: Canada Gazette, PartI,2August 1997
9. Proposed dateofadoption:
Proposed dateofentry intoforce:notstated
10. Final dateforcomments: 1September 1997
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X]oraddress andtelefax number ofother
body: