Vol. 144, No. 14 — July 7, 2010

Registration

SOR/2010-137 June 17, 2010

HEALTH OF ANIMALS ACT

Regulations Amending the Health of Animals Regulations

P.C. 2010-762 June 17, 2010

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, pursuant to subsection 64(1) (see footnote a) of the Health of Animals Act (see footnote b), hereby makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Health of Animals Regulations.

REGULATIONS AMENDING THE HEALTH OF ANIMALS REGULATIONS

AMENDMENTS

1. (1) Subsection 173(1) of the Health of Animals Regul a tions (see footnote 1) and the heading before it are replaced by the following:

APPROVAL, ISSUANCE AND REVOCATION OF TAGS

173. (1) The Minister may approve or revoke a tag, chip or other indicator for the identification of an animal, or the carcass of an animal, for the purposes of this Part.

(2) The portion of subsection 173(2) of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

(2) When considering the approval of a tag, chip or other indicator, the Minister shall take into account whether

(3) Section 173 of the Regulations is amended by adding the following after subsection (2):

(3) When considering the revocation of an approved tag, chip or other indicator, the Minister shall take into account whether there is any other tag, chip or other indicator that offers improved performance over that approved tag, chip or other indicator with respect to the criteria set out in paragraphs (2)(b) to (e).

2. Section 179 of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

179. Except as authorized under paragraph 186(1)(a) or 187(1)(a), no person shall remove, or cause the removal of, an approved tag, or an approved tag that has been revoked, from an animal or the carcass of an animal.

3. Subsection 184(1) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

184. (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), if an animal does not bear an approved tag, bears an approved tag that has been revoked or loses its approved tag, the person who owns or has the possession, care or control of the animal shall immediately apply a new approved tag to it.

4. (1) The portion of subsection 185(1) of the Regulations before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

185. (1) Every person who applies, or causes the application of, a new approved tag to an animal, or the carcass of an animal, that does not bear an approved tag, bears an approved tag that has been revoked, or that has lost its approved tag, shall keep a record of

(2) Subsection 185(3) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(3) Every person who applies, or causes the application of, a new approved tag to an animal, or the carcass of an animal, that already bears an approved tag or an approved tag that has been revoked, shall, within 30 days after the new approved tag is applied, report to the administrator the number of the new approved tag as well as the number of the previously applied tag.

5. (1) Paragraph 186(1)(a) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(a) may remove any tag from the animal or the animal’s carcass; and

(2) Subsection 186(3) of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(3) If an animal bearing an approved tag or an approved tag that has been revoked is slaughtered, or otherwise dies, on a farm or ranch or at an auction barn, the operator of the farm, ranch or auction barn shall keep a record of the slaughter or death of the animal and the number of its tag.

6. (1) The portion of subsection 187(1) of the Regulations before paragraph (b) is replaced by the following:

187. (1) Every person, including a renderer, a dead stock operator, a post-mortem laboratory official or a veterinarian, who disposes of the carcass of an animal bearing an approved tag or an approved tag that has been revoked

(a) may remove the tag from the carcass; and

(2) Paragraph 187(1)(b) of the English version of the Regulations is replaced by the following:

(b) shall report the number of the tag to the administrator within 30 days after disposing of the carcass.

COMING INTO FORCE

7. 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

In accordance with the National Cattle Identification Program, all cattle, bison and sheep producers in Canada are required to tag their animals with an approved tag before the animals leave their farm of origin. Currently, both bar-coded tags and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are approved by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. As of July 1, 2010, only RFID tags will be approved tags for cattle.

The Health of Animals Regulations provide the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food the authority and criteria to approve a tag, chip or other indicator for the identification of an animal or the carcass of an animal. However, the authority to revoke an approved tag is not explicitly stated, and the Regulations do not currently provide clarity as to what criteria would be used to decide to revoke a tag.

Currently, the Health of Animals Regulations require anyone who re-tags an animal that already bears an approved tag to report the numbers of the new and the old tags within 30 days so that a database concordance can be made. The Regulations do not explicitly require the reporting of tag numbers in the case of revoked tags. If there is no requirement to report this information, there will be a lack of concordance of data between old and new tags. This represents a potential loss of traceability information regarding older cows originally tagged with bar-coded tags if they are re-tagged with RFID tags after the bar-coded tags are revoked.

The objectives of this amendment are

• to ensure the database is as complete and accurate as possible during the transition to the new tagging system — and during any future transition — so that any CFIA response to animal disease outbreak or food safety emergency can be as swift and targeted as possible; and
• to provide clarity as to what factors need to be considered when revoking tags, and the requirements when approved tags are revoked.

Description and rationale

The Health of Animals Regulations provide the regulatory framework for the National Cattle Identification Program.

The National Cattle Identification Program is administered by the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency (CCIA), through a formal agreement, on behalf of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). The CCIA manages the cattle identification database and the CFIA has direct access to it. The more complete and accurate the database is, the quicker and more targeted the CFIA’s response can be in case of disease outbreak.

The amendment extends the application of the requirement that anyone who re-tags an animal that already bears an approved tag should report the numbers of the new and the old tags within 30 days, to also apply in the situation where the older tag is no longer approved. Requiring that this information be reported will bridge a potential gap in traceability information and allow the CFIA to be in the best possible position to respond to emergency situations.

This requirement is not expected to be onerous for producers, as it mirrors the obligation already in the Regulations that applies when they re-tag an animal for any other reason. Data shows that over 90% of cattle arriving at auction barns and abattoirs now bear an RFID tag. RFID tags have a better retention rate in cattle, and facilitate the automated reading and collection of tag numbers at high volume sites such as abattoirs. Facilitating the reading and collection of cattle identification information will enhance the traceability of Canadian cattle. During an animal health or food safety related emergency, the ability to trace an animal to its farm of origin efficiently and effectively is critical.

The amendment also clarifies that certain existing requirements, such as the prohibition against the removal of tags, will be maintained for revoked tags. As is currently the case, anyone adding an RFID tag to an animal already bearing a bar code tag must leave the old tag in place. This also serves to prevent the loss of traceability data.

The amendment also makes explicit that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food may revoke an approved tag, and that the factors to be considered for de-listing are the same as those to be considered when tags are approved. These criteria are that the tags should have a unique identification number; may not be readily altered or tampered with; are difficult to counterfeit; are easily and readily readable; and are designed to be retained by the animals to which they are applied. Prior to revoking a tag, the Minister shall take into consideration whether there is another tag that offers improved performance according to these criteria.

Consultation

There has been extensive consultation with regard to the change in the tagging system since 2004. The CCIA originally proposed that revocation of bar code tags occur on January 1, 2008. The revocation was subsequently targeted for January 1, 2010, and is currently scheduled for July 1, 2010. Extensive CCIA communications were undertaken during the second half of 2009 to inform cattle producers and other individuals, such as auction barn operators, of the transition. The CCIA and CFIA are developing joint communications products in support of the transition date. This amendment will have a minor impact on producers’ requirement to report the change of an animal identification tag. It clarifies that some existing requirements continue to apply in the case of revoked tags. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and the CCIA have written letters to the Minister supporting the revocation of bar code tags effective July 1, 2010.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

This amendment will have no impact on the implementation and enforcement activities of the CFIA. CFIA staff throughout Canada whose duties include enforcement of the animal identification provisions under the Health of Animals Act will have the authority to enforce the current requirements with respect to revoked tags. This will be done by periodically spot-checking tag numbers in the database to see that the concordance data has been reported.

Contact

Richard Robinson
Manager
Identification and Traceability Programs
Canadian Food Inspection Agency
1400 Merivale Road
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0Y9
Telephone: 613-773-6172
Fax: 613-773-5692
Email: Richard.Robinson@inspection.gc.ca

Footnote a
S.C. 1993, c. 34, s. 76

Footnote b
S.C. 1990, c. 21

Footnote 1
C.R.C., c. 296; SOR/91-525

NOTICE:
The format of the electronic version of this issue of the Canada Gazette was modified in order to be compatible with extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML 1.0 Strict).