Canada and the United States have signed a new agreement for
trading greenhouse-grown plants.
It comes a month before president-elect Donald Trump, who talks tough on trade deals, gains control.
The United
States – Canada Greenhouse-Grown Plant Certification Program (GCP) is
a bilateral export certification program for greenhouse-grown plants shipped
between Canada and the continental United States.
It is
administered by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the United States
Department of Agriculture.
The program allows
authorized facilities to ship plants using a GCP sticker in place of a
phytosanitary certificate, which relates to the control of plant pests.
The revised GCP
strengthens oversight of plant movement, requires consistent implementation of
the program, and reflects current business practices, says the CFIA on its
website.
There will be a
two-year period for facilities registered in the current Canadian Greenhouse
Certification Program to transition to the GCP.
Facilities that
have not completed the transition may continue to ship under the current
program until the end of the transition period.
Some key changes
to the program include the following:
•
The current
lists of excluded plants are replaced by a requirement for plants to meet both
countries' phytosanitary requirements;
•
Authorized
facilities will prepare and use a written Pest Management Plan, and
•
There is a
mechanism for items such as bamboo stakes – which currently require a
separate phytosanitary certificate – to be included under the GCP
sticker.
The CFIA and
APHIS division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture say they believe that
improvements made through the GCP revisions strengthen their abilities to meet
their mission of protecting North American agriculture and natural resources.
The revised GCP
also streamlines the shipping process, thereby improving efficiency and providing
cost savings to all parties, says the CFIA.
