Dear CSCA members,
Due to concerns by India Directorate of Plant Protection (DPP) over the legitimacy of recent phytosanitary certificates (phytos) provided to India for shipments of Canadian lentils, India DPP has recently requested that CFIA verify the authenticity of several phytos.
India has noted that concerns over phyto legitimacy are raised when the date on the phyto is after the bill of lading date. Due to this being a common occurrence in Canada, many countries have raised this concern in the past. Generally, CFIA will just backdate the phyto when asked by the exporter in order to assuage any concerns in the export market.
In this case India has stated that when a phyto is dated after the bill of lading date, India classifies it as a non-compliance. In order to comply, India has asked that CFIA provide the date of sample inspection on the phyto if the phyto is dated after the bill of lading date. Therefore, Regina CFIA (which issues all the phytos in Western Canada) has been advised and given the following directions to staff for issuing phytos for India:
“THE DATE ON THE PHYTO CANNOT BE AFTER THE BILL OF LADING DATE UNLESS THE INSPECTION DATE IS INCLUDED AS AN ADDITIONAL DECLARATION ON THE PHYTOSANITARY CERTIFICATE.”
CFIA will be implementing this change immediately and appending an additional declaration to the phyto that outlines the sample inspection date on any phytos that will be dated after the bill of lading.
CFIA may not know the bill of lading date and may now request this information from the exporter. CSCA members should contact Pulse Canada or CFIA Regina for additional clarification on implementation of these measures.
CFIA Regina Office:
1800 11th Avenue
Floor 3, Room 301
Regina, Saskatchewan
S4P 0H8
Tel: 306-780-5180
Fax: 306-780-5177