Ottawa, April 3, 2018 - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has streamlined its plant protection program concerning the import, transfer and handling of potentially injurious organisms (PIOs) in Canada. PIOs include invertebrates and micro-organisms that are plant pests or that may be contaminated with plant pests.
Directives D-12-02 and D-12-03 provide the import and domestic requirements for PIOs under the Plant Protection Act. The following updates to the delivery of the PIOs program have been made to better align the requirements with risks to plant health in Canada:
- increasing from 1 year to 2 years the period of validity for permissions that require plant pest containment, provided the permissions specify the supplier and do not concern quarantine pests
- accommodating requests to import PIOs from multiple countries, when deemed acceptable based on risk
- facilitating the domestic movement of PIOs and clarifying the requirements for that movement, including between plant pest containment rooms and facilities
- streamlining the process for verifying plant pest containment facilities, with more emphasis on a risk-based approach to facility inspections
These updates are subject to the review and assessment of individual proposals, as well as to requirements of other plant protection programs that may apply.
Please direct questions regarding these updates to CFIA-IAS_ACIA-EEE@inspection.gc.ca.