Operational procedure: Issuing an export certificate for honey and other apicultural products

1.0 Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide guidance to Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspection staff on issuing export certificates for honey and other apicultural products intended for human consumption.

The guidance outlined below should be used when an inspector receives an application for an export certificate at the local CFIA office from an exporter and the Digital Service Delivery Platform (DSDP) is not accessible to the inspector (for example, DSDP is down or offline) or until such time the certificate is available in DSDP. The guidance for using TRACES (Trade Control and Expert System) for export to the European Union (EU) is also included.

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

2.0 Authorities

Safe Food for Canadians Act (SFCA), 48
Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR), 17
Food and Drugs Act (FDA)
Food and Drug Regulations (FDR)

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

4.0 Definitions

Unless specified below, definitions are located in either the:

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

Note: For honey and other apicultural products destined for the EU, export certificates will be issued using the European's TRACES NT system, as of January 15, 2022. Please consult the Comparative table for EU export certification using TRACES (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 15417499).

6.1 Receipt of an application

6.1.1 Upon receipt of an export certification application, which includes the Food export certificate application request (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 11409529), and the Exporter's declaration for the export certificate – Honey (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 11281428), inspectors must ensure that the exporter meets the regulatory requirements:

holds a valid licence [17(2), SFCR]
has a written Preventive Control Plan (PCP) [86(2), SFCR]

Some countries may have a specific request form, refer to the Export certification inspection task tables (accessible only on the Government of Canada network).

As indicated on the CFIA Food export certification page, exporters are responsible to verify and meet the import requirements of the destination country. Documentation of import requirements as issued by the competent authority of the importing country is to be maintained by the exporter for at least 2 years [16(2) SFCR]. When no requirements are available, exporters can export at their own commercial risk. For some countries, certification is not possible.

6.1.2 If a request is received to endorse a document that is not already identified in the Export certification inspection task tables (accessible only on the Government of Canada network), please contact the Operational Guidance and Expertise (OGE) through the established communication pathways to ensure that the statements contained in the proposed document accurately reflect the public and animal health status in Canada.

6.1.3 Bulk or prepackaged honey prepared in federally licensed establishments may be certified for export. Exported honey is to meet the Canadian Standards of Identity Volume 5 – Honey to be eligible for export. Section 16 of the SFCR provides the conditions under which a licence holder may pack and label honey that meets the importing country requirements when they differ from domestic requirements.

6.2 Reviewing the application

6.2.1 The inspector will review the Food export certificate application request to verify completed accurately. It is recommended that the application be submitted a minimum of 7 working days prior to loading to allow time for document verification and product inspection.

6.2.2 The inspector will review the completed Exporter's declaration for the export certificate – Honey. Some countries may have a specific declaration form; refer to the Export certification inspection task tables (accessible only on the Government of Canada network). The inspector will verify that the Exporter's declaration form includes the following information:

identifies the exporter (for example, licensed establishment or broker) and exporter's contact information
describes the product to be exported
declares that the product was manufactured by a licence holder in accordance with the SFCR
declares that the product meets the requirements of the SFCR and FDR
signed and dated by the exporter

6.3 Processing the export certificate

6.3.1 Before issuing an export certificate, the inspector must review if there are any negotiated or identified requirements for the country of destination and if there are any additional inspection tasks to be conducted as listed in the respective Export certification inspection task tables (accessible only on the Government of Canada network), and determine if the consignment meets these requirements. The identified additional tasks that are completed in support of an export certificate are stored in DSDP as per the Interim guidance on entering food commodity inspection data into DSDP (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 12369415).

6.3.2 Before issuing an export certificate, the lot must be inspected and graded according to the Operational procedures – Honey grade verification. If the product inspection is not satisfactory, do not issue an export certificate. Instead, enter the results into the appropriate inspection database to document inspection findings.

6.3.3 If the inspector is satisfied that the applicant and the consignment meet the requirements and has reviewed and determined that the information submitted by the applicant is acceptable, the inspector will generate the applicable export certificate as indicated on the Export certification inspection task tables (accessible only on the Government of Canada network).

6.3.4 Some countries have specific country documents. For instructions on completing these specific country documents, refer to the Export certification inspection task tables (accessible only on the Government of Canada network).

The Export Certificate – Processed fruits and vegetables, honey and maple products (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – CFIA/ACIA 2659) is populated by the inspector with the following information:

Field descriptions for Export Certificate – Processed fruits and vegetables, honey and maple products (CFIA/ACIA 2659)
Export certificate field	Description
Exporter	may be the operator/owner of a licenced establishment, exporter, broker or legal agent there can only be one exporter per export certificate
Address (exporter)	exporter's mailing address
Product	common name of the product the product must comply with the Canadian Grade Compendium Volume 6 – Honey, and the Canadian Standards of Identity Volume 5 – Honey [9(1), 306(1) SFCR] if the export certificate covers more than one product, use separate lines for each product
Grade	for honey graded as per the Canadian Grade Compendium Volume 6 – Honey only Canadian grade names are permitted to be shown on the export certificate indicate "N/A" if the importing country does not require a grade
Colour class	as per the Canadian Grade Compendium Volume 6 – Honey indicate "N/A" if the importing country does not require a colour class
Brand	brand name as declared on the label if no brand is identified, enter "N/A"
Codes examined	inspected lot code(s) or production sale(s) examined to identify the inspection lot
Number of cases	total number of cases to be exported if there is more than one container size, use one line on the export certificate for each size. For example, 2100 cases: 1000 cases of 50 gm containers and 1100 cases of 1 kg containers
Size and number of containers per case	container size(s) inspected and the number of containers per case if there is more than 1 container size, use 1 line on the export certificate for each size. For example, 500 gm – 12 per case 1 kg – 6 per case some importing countries require both gross and net weights to be included in this box
Registration number	unique establishment identifier (former registration number) of the honey establishment
Shipping marks	identifying marks not already captured on the export certificate (for example, trailer seal number, pallet code, barrel marking) if no other marks exist, record a dash/hyphen
Consignee	name of the company accepting possession of the product there can only be one consignee per export certificate
Address (consignee)	consignee's address
Carrier	name of the transporter if a name is not provided, record "Unknown"

6.4 Issuing the certificate

Export certificates cannot be issued for any honey shipments that have already left Canada.

6.4.1 All certificates must be signed in blue ink, and stamped using red ink. The signature of the inspector who performed the product inspection must sign the export certificate. The certificate must bear the date (YYYY-MM-DD) the export certificate was signed. The stamp is to be applied to in an area that does not obscure any pertinent information.

The CFIA will issue one original document with a unique certificate number for each request made by the applicant.

The original document must carry the official CFIA red stamp in the area indicated to that effect. The stamp used for the certificate must be in the format as per the Operational procedure: Guidance on the purchase, use, control and decommissioning of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency official export certificate stamp (OECS)OG/OO-20150831 (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 12181558).

6.4.2 For export certificates that are not in DSDP, continue using the current system and track using the existing tracking tools. Once DSDP is fully functional, export cases will be created for these certificates, and the issued certificates will be uploaded into the export case.

Until DSDP is used for the issuance of honey export certificates, the certificates are tracked in the National export certificate tracking sheet (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 2248378).

When an inspector issues a certificate, all documentation related to this certificate must be kept on file at the local CFIA office or within DSDP. This includes, but is not limited to:

a copy of the original certificate, a replacement certificate, or any other documents used to issue the certificate
any correspondence from the exporter applying for a certificate
a copy of inspection results, if applicable

The inspector is to write the export certificate number in the shaded portion on the Exporter's declaration for the export certificate – Honey.

6.5 Replacement of issued certificate

For the procedure to issue a replacement certificate, please refer to the Replacing export certificates for food (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 10878038).

For export certificates that are issued through TRACES NT, the comparative table (accessible only on the Government of Canada network – RDIMS 15417499) has additional information regarding the replacement function.

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

Date modified:: 2024-01-02

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