Agreement Boosts EU-Canada Live Animal Trade

The total value of EU export trade (EU-15) to Canada for the main products covered by the agreement has increased by almost 90 per cent – from 69 million euros per year in 1998 to 131 million euros per year in 2008.

Since the EU-Canada veterinary agreement entered into force in March 1999, the increases in the value of the export trade regarded primarily live animals (+139 per cent), meat (+183 per cent), dairy products (+90 per cent) and fish and crustaceans (+48 per cent). The numbers clearly indicate that the agreement has facilitated trade procedures and enabled wider market access.

In practice, wider market access was realised by the recognition of each side's production standards through the establishment of equivalence agreements for pig meat, and bovine semen. Both the EU and Canada have adopted simplified import certificates for these products, which reduce production, inspection and certification costs.

The EU and Canada are now finalising equivalency for fisheries products and are working on equivalence determinations for dairy products, live bivalve molluscs -like mussels and clams- and bovine embryos. Canada is also conducting technical work that will establish the import requirements for meat from all Member States and will harmonise trade rules for the Community.

Regionalisation for animal diseases relating to the products covered by the veterinary agreement has been implemented which makes it possible for both sides to limit import restrictions only to regions affected by a disease outbreak. A new project is to establish export conditions for products in the occurrence of an outbreak, which is a further step in facilitating trade in such situations.