Evaluation of the Export Certification Program

Evaluation

The evaluation focused on export certification activities that took place from April 2016 to November 2019 to evaluate whether the CFIA delivered its export certification program in an accurately, timely and digitally-enabled manner.

How CFIA evaluated

Interviewed:

  • 22 exporters across Canada
  • 4 technical specialists overseas
  • CFIA employees across the country in 19 local offices, 6 laboratories and national headquarters

Assessed activities that support export certification including:

  • negotiations with foreign trading partners
  • laboratory testing, certification and reporting

Reviewed academic, industry, and Canadian government documents

Key findings

CFIA issued accurate export certificates within a timeframe that met the needs of industry. At the time of the evaluation, CFIA was working towards implementing its system to deliver all export certificates in a digitally-enabled manner. CFIA's collaborative approach to negotiations with trading partners on certification requirements facilitated expansion into new export markets.

Recommendations

Service delivery standards

  • Review and update 2018 service management strategy to align with CFIA's strategic priorities
  • Develop and implement service standards across the export certification program
  • Group commodities that require similar export certification verifications and establish appropriate service standards for each group aligned to the updated CFIA service management strategy
  • Monitor and report on performance against these standards

Resources and information management

  • Strengthen how CFIA applies an integrated risk management approach within and across its animal, food and plant programs to more effectively determine appropriate resource allocations to its export certification activities
  • Develop a transition plan designed to ensure that all paper and electronic export certificates are entered and managed in the Digital Services Delivery Platform (DSDP)
  • Provide all relevant employees with access to updated export certification training, guidance and reference tools

Did you know…

Graph 1: Top 10 products by number of export certificates issued (2018 to 2019 fiscal year)
Graph 1: Top 10 products by number of export certificates issued (2018 to 2019 fiscal year)
Description of Graph 1
Top 10 products by number of export certificates issued (2018 to 2019 fiscal year)
Total 438,322
Other plant products 4,352
Animal feed 7,094
Imported and manufactured foods 9,175
Horticulture products 19,697
Forestry products 20,215
Potatoes 32,899
Grains 43,351
Fish 69,930
Meat 114,499
Animal products 117,110

Source: CFIA Management Resources and Results Structure

Graph 2: Top 10 exported commodities by dollar value (2018, Canadian dollars, Billions)
Graph 2: Top 10 exported commodities by dollar value (2018, Canadian dollars, Billions)
Description of Graph 2
Top 10 exported commodities by dollar value (2018, Canadian dollars, Billions)
Total $104.01
Animal feed $1.02
Fresh fruit and vegetables $2.14
Horticulture products $2.18
Animal products $2.74
Processed products $3.70
Fish $6.76
Meat $7.26
Imported and manufactured food $18.94
Grains $19.71
Forestry $39.56

Sources: Agriculture and Agrifood Canada Market Access Secretariat.

Graph 3: Key variables to the success of the export certification program
Graph 3: Key variables to the success of the export certification program
Description of Graph 3
Key variables to the success of the export certification program
Digital Service Delivery Platform 27
Training implementation 21
Digital solutions 19
Training development 18
Funding 16
Domestic programs 8
CFIA culture 4
Trade priority 1

Source: As ranked by CFIA employees that were interviewed for this evaluation

Complete report