CANADA: PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE FISH INSPECTION REGULATIONS The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6. G/TBT/Notif.97.392. 1. Member to Agreement notifying: CANADA. If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2). 2. Agency responsible: Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification can be indicated if different from above. 3. Notified under Article 2.9.2. 4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable): Fish. 5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: Proposed Amendment to the Fish Inspection Regulations (pages 2194-2207). 6. Description of content: This amendment is the result of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) ongoing participation in regulatory review activities and consequent re-examination of how domestic and imported fish inspection services are provided and imported fish inspection cost recovery is administered. The intent of this amendment is to: (1) Better protect public safety through the enactment of regulations: (i) requiring that importers of canned and ready-to-eat fish and fish products maintain records, available for review by fish inspectors upon request, which demonstrate that these processes are adequate to produce "safe" products; (ii) banning the import of any species of highly toxic, tropical marine puffer fish of the family Tetraodontidae; (2) better facilitate the import fish into Canada and its inspection through the enactment of regulations extending the tenets of the Quality Management Programme in place for the domestic fish processing industry to the import sector of industry through the creation of a new importer licensing regime featuring quality management programme import licenses which will allow importers to conduct their own inspections of the fish they import, thereby allowing importers to more rapidly market their importations; and (3) ensure that imported fish cost recovery fees are more equitably shared between licensed importers through the enactment of regulations replacing most inspection services (i.e. notification) fees and all imported fish inspection and analysis fees with a revenue neutral fee charged on each kilogram of fish imported. 7. Objective and rationale: Protection of human safety. 8. Relevant documents: Canada Gazette, Part I, 2 August 1997. 9. Proposed date of adoption: not stated; Proposed date of entry into force: not stated. 10. Final date for comments: 1 September 1997. 11. Text available from: National enquiry point. (0239)

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