Delays in the Processing of CFIA Import Requests

(CFIA)

Delays in the processing of shipments at the National Import Service Centre have been reported since the closure of the Western Import Service Centre, on April 1st 2010. CFIA is making every effort to resolve these issues and has progressively decreased the processing delays over the last few days. We anticipate that processing times will continue to improve until which point CFIA is in a position to resume delivering our normal service standard (45 minutes for EDI and 2 hours for paper transactions). In an effort to decrease congestion at the NISC, and assist CFIA in improving turnaround time, we would kindly ask that Importers/Brokers please avoid faxing duplicate import release requests to the NISC.

We would like to remind you that the pre-approval (PARS) is available for all regulated commodities, other than meat, for up to 30 days. We encourage Importers/Brokers to take advantage of the pre-approval process to avoid delays at the time of import. For more information follow this link.

We will continue to manage the situation and make all necessary adjustments to ensure that CFIA continues to meet our service standards. We thank you for your usual cooperation.