CFIA continues user fee cap

Friday, September 30, 2011

by BETTER FARMING STAFF

Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced Thursday that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will continue to cap user fees at $75 for endorsing export certificates for certain livestock and embryo industries until September 2013, while the CFIA works with industry to modernize the user fee structure. 

The user fee cap is specific to a number of export certification fees that are currently charged on a per-unit basis with no upper limit. This user fee cap applies to certain swine, cattle, flightless birds, poultry, hatching eggs, horses, sheep and goats.

In a news release issued the same day, Jurgen Preugschas, president of the Canadian Pork Council stated that the extension on the cap “will be well received by weanling and feeder pig producers that deliver a healthy and quality product to a competitive market in the United States and around the world.”

The CPC news release noted that keeping the CFIA fees competitive with other jurisdictions, technological advances and reflective of the “true cost of offering the service,” was a key component in helping the industry to remain globally competitive.

“Without this extension, the cost to Canadian producers would return to an outdated fee structure that would range between $300-$375 depending on the number of animals being transported per load,” the news release states. It notes that nearly 4 million feeder swine were exported to the U.S. in 2010. BF