Provincial government tightens oversight of raw leaf tobacco production

Friday, May 2, 2014

by SUSAN MANN

Changes are coming to the way raw leaf tobacco is regulated in Ontario with tobacco growers and others in the industry needing to hold a registration certificate from the Ontario Finance Ministry starting next year.

In an information notice emailed by Scott Blodgett, senior media relations adviser with the ministry, it says the finance ministry’s oversight of all varieties of raw leaf tobacco in Ontario began Oct. 1, 2012 but there has been a temporary exemption to the requirement to hold a registration certificate with the ministry. That exemption ends Dec. 31 and that means farmers and others in the industry must be registered as of Jan. 1 2015 with the finance ministry “before engaging in raw leaf tobacco activities,” the notice says.

Those needing to register include people who:

• Plant, harvest, cure or bale raw leaf tobacco.
• Process, which means stem, thresh or blend, raw leaf tobacco. But that doesn’t include the manufacture, fabrication or production of tobacco products.
• Sell or buy raw leaf tobacco.
• Import or export raw leaf tobacco.
• Transport raw leaf tobacco into or out of Ontario if they are not already registered with the ministry as in inter-jurisdictional transporter.

“Conducting any of these activities after the exemption period ends without holding the required registration certificate may result in the raw leaf tobacco being seized, and fines and penalties being imposed,” the notice says.

As a temporary measure, people who have a valid license or registration with the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers’ Marketing Board “are considered to hold a registration certificate with the ministry as a raw leaf tobacco producer, dealer or processor,” the notice says.

More details about Ontario’s raw leaf tobacco program will be spelled out in regulations, the notice says. The ministry is working on developing the regulations for the registration system, Blodgett says.

The regulations will outline the criteria needed for people to get a registration certificate, additional grounds for suspending or cancelling a registration certificate and what information people must provide to the finance ministry.

After the exemption period ends on Dec. 31, people who conduct raw leaf tobacco activities that are not covered by their board registration, for example, they also import or export raw leaf tobacco, will need to get the relevant ministry of finance registration certificate or certificates before conducting those activities, the notice says.

Fred Neukamm, chair of the Ontario tobacco board, didn’t return several calls for comment. BF