October 18, 2023
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulates the import and handling of biological control agents in Canada because of the potential that these agents can become pest themselves or carriers of pests. These requirements are in place to prevent damage to Canada's natural environment.
A number of biological control agents are approved for import and release in Canada, provided a permit is obtained under the Plant Protection Act. To prevent contamination with other organisms (for example, pathogens, parasites, parasitoids), these agents must be produced in a rearing facility with a protected environment for at least one complete generation.
Approved biological control agents are listed in section 5 of appendix 1 to the CFIA's plant protection directive D-12-02 ("Biological control agents from commercial sources"). When requesting to import any of these approved agents, please include the following information on your application for a plant protection permit to import:
- Name and location of the rearing facility with a protected environment; and
- Date from which agents have been under continuous culture in this rearing facility.
The processing of permit applications that do not contain this information will be placed on hold until the information is obtained.
If you have questions about this notice, please email CFIA-IAS_ACIA-EEE@inspection.gc.ca.