CFIA Notice to Registered Seed Establishments

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has posted an update to its website about the requirements, tools and programs that are of interest to Registered Seed Establishments.

Import requirements are listed as follows:

• Weed Seeds Order (WSO), 2016 came into force on November 1, 2016.  All seed sold in or imported into Canada must now be tested and graded using WSO, 2016. Weed seed identification factsheets have been developed to assist in identifying seeds of weedy species.
• Seeds in small packets, intended for home gardens, and imported by home gardeners or by commercial businesses, must comply with the requirements of the Seeds Act and Seeds Regulations (the Regulations).
• Several common errors delay the release of imported seed. Please ensure that: the unique lot number identifier appears on all import documents (e.g., invoice, import declaration, Seed Analysis Certificate (SAC)); the information on the SAC meets Canadian standards (e.g., WSO, correct working sample weights); imports of seed of crop types listed in Schedule III of the Regulations are of a variety registered in Canada (unregistered varieties cannot be imported except for limited purposes specified in the Regulations); and the end use of the seed is clearly stated (i.e., sale, research, conditioning or seeding by the importer). Including the importer's fax number or email address is optional, but may help speed the issuance of a Notice of Import Conformity.

This has been excerpted from the 23 January 2017 notice to industry and is available in its entirety on the CFIA website.