Operational procedure: Certification of fish landed by European Union (EU) vessels, stored in Canada and exported to the EU for human consumption – CFIA/ACIA 5935

On this page

• 1.0 Purpose
• 2.0 Authorities
• 3.0 Reference documents
• 4.0 Definitions
• 5.0 Acronyms
• 6.0 Operational procedure
  • 6.1 Receipt and review of an application
  • 6.2 Issuing export certificates
  • 6.3 Replacement certificates

1.0 Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspection staff on the procedure to follow in issuing the Health certificate for fishery products intended for human consumption caught by vessels flying the flag of a Member State and transferred in Canada with or without storage (CFIA/ACIA 5935) for fish products that have been offloaded from an EU-listed vessel and are currently in storage at a licensed Canadian Cold Storage establishment.

CFIA inspectors issue these export certificates to enable the export of fish products that have been offloaded in Canada at licensed cold storage and are being held "in-bond" during storage. Only establishments which have implemented the required controls are eligible to receive these certificates.

Product eligible for certification is restricted to frozen packaged fish products.

This document is intended to be used in conjunction with other guidance documents as referenced in Section 3.0.

2.0 Authorities

• Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA), 48
• Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR), 17

The inspection powers, control actions and enforcement actions authorized by the above legislation are identified and explained in the Operational guideline – Food regulatory response guidelines.

3.0 Reference documents

• Industry guidance: European Union (EU) – Certification Of fish landed by EU vessels, stored in Canada and exported to the EU for human consumption
• Industry guidance: Preventive controls for food businesses
• Food export certificate application request (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 11409529)
• Issuing an export certificate for fish and seafood products (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 10823819)
• Replacing export certificates for food (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 10878038)
• Operational procedure: Food preventive control and traceability inspection – Compliance verification system
• Operational guidance:Standard Inspection Process
• Operational guideline: Standard Regulatory Response Process
• Operational guideline: Recorded Information Management Policy (accessible only on the Government of Canada network)

4.0 Definitions

Unless specified below, definitions are located in the:

• Safe Food for Canadians Regulations: Glossary of key terms
• My CFIA Glossary of terms

5.0 Acronyms

Acronyms are spelled out the first time they are used in this document and are consolidated in the Food business line acronyms list.

6.0 Operational procedure

6.1 Receipt and review of a request for an export certificate

6.1.1 The request for product certification must be submitted to CFIA following the provisions of the Food Export Certificate Application Request procedure (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 11409529).

Upon receipt of the request form for an export certificate, the inspector must ensure that the exporter meets the requirements:

• holds a valid licence [SFCR 17(2)]
• has a written preventive control plan (PCP) [SFCR 86(2)]

To be eligible to receive the export certificate requested, the exporter must meet the requirements identified in the Industry Guidance – European Union (EU) – Certification of fish landed by EU vessels, stored in Canada and exported to the EU for human consumption. An exporter who has developed and implemented a PCP which complies with the requirements identified in the Industry Guidance will be considered to meet these requirements.

This export certificate may not be issued for product that is of Canadian origin or for product that has been imported into Canada.

6.2 Issuing the export certificates

6.2.1 The export certificate submitted by the exporter will be reviewed by the inspector to ensure that it is complete.

The inspector will then issue the certificate following section 6.4 of the Issuing an export certificate for fish and seafood products (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 10823819).

Note:

The official certificate contains the following statement:

• are accompanied by the print out(s) (**) of the fishing logbook(s) or relevant parts thereof (**)

It is the responsibility of the exporter to ensure that the fishing logbook(s) or relevant parts thereof are in a form acceptable to the officials of the importing country and that this information accompanies the official export certificate issued by CFIA

6.2.2 The documents pertaining to the requested certificates are to be retained on file at the local sub-district office.

6.3 Replacement certificates

6.3.1 When a certificate requires a replacement, the replacement may be issued by the inspector and may only be issued under the circumstances established by CFIA. Replacing export certificates for food (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 10878038) is to be followed.

For general inquiries related to this Operational Guidance Document, please follow established communication channels, including submitting an electronic Request for Action Form (e-RAF).