Vol. 142, No. 26 — December 24, 2008

Registration

SOR/2008-325 December 15, 2008

HEALTH OF ANIMALS ACT

Regulations Amending the Certain Ruminants and Their Products Importation Prohibition Regulations, No. 2

The Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, pursuant to section 14 of the Health of Animals Act (see footnote a), hereby makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Certain Ruminants and Their Products Importation Prohibition Regulations, No. 2.

Ottawa, December 15, 2008

GERRY RITZ
Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food

	REGULATIONS AMENDING THE CERTAIN RUMINANTS AND THEIR PRODUCTS IMPORTATION PROHIBITION REGULATIONS, NO. 2
	AMENDMENT
	1. The portion of subsection 2(1) of the Certain Ruminants and Their Products Importation Prohibition Regulations, No. 2 (see footnote 1) before paragraph (c) is replaced by the following:
Prohibition on importation	2. (1) No person may import into Canada from the United States, during the period beginning on June 27, 2006 and ending on June 30, 2009, any of the following things:
	COMING INTO FORCE
	2. These Regulations come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT
ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Regulations.)

Issue and objectives

This amendment will extend the operation of the Certain Ruminants and Their Products Importation Prohibition Regulations, No. 2 until June 30, 2009.

By prohibiting the importation of the products and by-products as set out in the Regulations, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will continue to protect Canadian livestock and consumers against exposure to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).

Description and rationale

The purposes of the Health of Animals Act (the Act) and the Health of Animals Regulations (the Regulations) are to prevent the introduction of animal diseases into Canada, to prevent the spread within Canada of diseases of animals that either affect human health or could have a significant economic effect on the Canadian livestock industry, and to provide for the humane treatment of animals during transport.

On December 23, 2003, the United States Department of Agriculture reported the discovery of a potential case of BSE in a dairy cow in Washington State. Subsequent testing confirmed the initial finding.

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or “mad cow disease,” is a progressive, fatal neurological disease in cattle. It is part of a group of diseases known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, which group also includes scrapie in sheep, chronic wasting disease in deer and elk, and variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. Research into BSE is ongoing, but this disease has been associated with the presence of an abnormal prion protein and, to date, there is no effective treatment or vaccine.

Section 14 of the Act grants the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food authority to make regulations prohibiting the importation into Canada of an animal or any other thing from any place for a specified period of time for the purpose of preventing a disease from being introduced into or spread within Canada.

The CFIA implemented, under this authority, a broad restriction on animals and their products from the United States, based upon the belief that the discovery of a case of BSE in that country presented public and animal health threats to Canada. These restrictions were formalized through the Animals of the Family Bovidae and their Products Importation Prohibition Regulations, published on January 21, 2004, and have subsequently been modified several times in response to the continuing evolution of the situation. The current version of the prohibitions is the Certain Ruminants and Their Products Importation Prohibition Regulations No. 2. In February 2007, amendments were made to the Health of Animals Regulations to create a framework for regulating the import of live ruminants from the United States, and the part of the import prohibition Regulations dealing with animals was repealed shortly thereafter.

The current importation prohibition Regulations represent a partial prohibition on the importation of certain animal products and by-products from the United States, which products and by-products may carry an unacceptable risk of carrying BSE. It prohibits the importation of:

(i) meat or meat products from the animals the sub-family Bovinae, which includes cattle, bison, and buffalo, and things containing such meat or meat products if the animals were not slaughtered by a BSE slaughter process;

(ii) meat or meat products from goats or sheep aged 12 months or older and things containing such meat or meat products;

(iii) animal food containing ingredients derived from ruminants;

(iv) fertilizer, excluding manure, containing ingredients from ruminants; and

(v) specified risk material.

Examples of exempted products include commercial pet food containing ingredients derived from animals of the sub-family Bovinae, provided that the product is derived from animals from which the specified risk material has been removed, or from animals from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, New Zealand or Uruguay; and meat products destined for cruise ships temporarily docked in Canada.

Implementation of these Regulations will assist in the prevention of additional cases of BSE in Canada and minimizes the risk of the transmission of BSE to the human food supply.

These Regulations will not affect the current costs to industry given that an import prohibition is already in effect.

These Regulations will be repealed when amendments to the Health of Animals Regulations to regulate these products and by-products come into force.

Consultation

Health Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and International Trade Canada have been kept apprised of the CFIA’s actions. Affected stakeholders have continued to express their views on the prohibition and the evolving situation to the CFIA.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

Section 16 of the Act requires anyone importing any animal or thing into Canada to present the animal or thing to an inspector, officer or officer of the Canadian Border Services Agency.

Section 65 of the Act, S.C. 1990, c. 21 establishes offences for refusing or neglecting to perform any duty imposed by or under the Act or its Regulations.

Contact

Dr. Ann Allain
Animal Health and Production Division
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
59 Camelot Drive
Nepean, Ontario
K1A 0Y9
Telephone: 613-221-4136
Fax: 613-228-6630

Footnote a
S.C. 1990, c. 21

Footnote 1
SOR/2006-168

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