Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

Ref : EIC 191/2/8

27 November 2012

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 980/2012

Canada : Safe Food for Canadians Act

Canada enacted the Safe Food for Canadians Act (the Act) on 22 November 2012 to modernize and strengthen food commodity legislation to better protect consumers. Essentially, the Act consolidates the Canada Agricultural Products Act, Fish Inspection Act, Meat Inspection Act as well as food-related provisions of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act. Full text of the Act and other related information are available at Parliament of Canada's website: http://www.parl.gc.ca/LegisInfo/BillDetails.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&billId=5654811& View=0;.

DETAILS

2.Key features of the Act are summarized below.

Inspector Powers

3. The Act consolidates the inspector authorities of existing food safety statutes and modernizes the language. Many authorities have been updated from their previous version to reflect new drafting conventions and to make them clearer. The Act introduces consistent food inspection practices across all food commodities. The main new authority is the power to request a warrant by telephone. The Act also provides more explicit authority for an inspector to pass through private property to get to a place for inspection.

Fines and Penalties

4. The Act increases some existing fines, and introduces new fines and penalties to deter willful or reckless threats to health and safety. Anyone convicted of an offence by way of summary conviction could face a penalty of up to Canadian $250,000 and/or 6 months imprisonment for a first offence, or more for subsequent offences. Fines and penalties are higher for serious and indictable offences.

Prohibitions

5. Among others, the Act includes a prohibition against selling food commodities that have been recalled, and introduces new and stronger prohibitions against deceptive practices, tampering and hoaxes.

Import Controls

6. The Act strengthens controls over imported food commodities, prohibits the importation of unsafe food commodities into Canada and introduces powers to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to register or license regulated parties and establishments. However, the new licensing and registration requirements are not applicable to foreign establishments and exporters that export to Canada.

Traceability

7. The Act provides the CFIA with strengthened authorities to develop regulations related to tracing and recalling of food, and the appropriate tools to take action on potentially unsafe food commodities.

Review Mechanism

8. The Act creates a review mechanism for regulated parties to seek review of certain decisions made by CFIA officials.

Implementation

9. Except for certain provisions, the Act will come into force on a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council. Before the Act can be brought into force, new supporting regulations have to be developed and all current legislation and regulations will remain in effect during the interim. The CFIA will be completing a review of the current regulations and working with stakeholders to develop the new regulations as quickly as possible.

10. For more details, please refer to the full text of the Act. Traders may also wish to visit the designated webpage maintained by the CFIA for background information and developments:
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/about-the-cfia/acts-and-regulations/initiatives/sfca/eng/ 1338796071420/1338796152395.

ENQUIRIES

11.For enquiries concerning this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5682.

Yours faithfully,

(Ms Cindy LAU)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry

Note : While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the above information, the Department cannot guarantee this to be so and will not be held liable for any reliance placed on the same.

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