Canada and the US have signed an agreement to recognize each other’s zoning measures during highly contagious foreign animal disease outbreaks.
This arrangement is intended to minimize trade disruptions, while still limiting the spread of the disease, in the event of an outbreak.
Canada's Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said that cross-border trade in live animals, meat and other animal products and by-products adds billions of dollars to Canada's economy annually.
"This arrangement will keep U.S. market opportunities open for Canadian producers should a foreign animal disease outbreak occur, all while protecting human and animal health" Ritz added.
This move is a part of the commitment made in the December 2011 Joint Action Plan of the Canada-United States Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), which seeks to better align the two countries' regulations.
Under the commitment, each country will accept each other's decisions on establishing, maintaining and releasing a disease control and eradication zone during an outbreak of a foreign animal disease.
A detailed guidance framework, outlining exactly how the arrangement will work, is currently under development. The framework will feature agreed-upon processes and conditions for zoning recognition, and will involve extensive consultation with industry groups, states and provinces.
