. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/CAN/342 
8 July 2008  
 (08-3265) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  CANADA
  
If applicable, name of local government involved:     
2. Agency responsible:  Canadian Food Inspection Agency 
3. Products covered (provide tariff item numb er(s) as specified in national schedules 
deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where 
applicable):  HS Code 0101, specifically: 
− Geldings 
− Breeding horses under two (2) years of age 
− Breeding horses over two (2 ) years of age/mares 
− Breeding horses over two (2) years of age/stallions 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable :  
European Community excluding Guadeloupe, Mar tinique, Guyane, La Réunion, the Canary 
Islands, Madiera, the Azores, and Gibraltar 
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:   
1. Proposed Import Conditions for Breeding Horses  under 2 years of age and Geldings from 
European Community Member States (avail able in English and French, 8 pages) 
2. Proposed Import Conditions for Breeding Hors es from European Community Member 
States/ Mares over 2 years of age (availab le in English and French, 10 pages) 
3. Proposed Import Conditions for Breeding Hors es from European Community Member 
States/ Stallions over 2 years of age (available in English and French, 10 pages) 
6. Description of content:  Trade rules within the European Community (EC) permit the trade 
of many commodities among Member States, unl ess there are imposed restrictions due to 
disease outbreaks.  Taking into considera tion the terms of the Canada/EC veterinary 
agreement and actions taken by othe r trading partners to address the EC as a group rather than 
on a Member States basis, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFI A) has recognized the 
need to move from the traditional approach of  negotiating import conditions on an individual 
Member States basis to one which addresse s import conditions on an EC group basis. 
The CFIA has conducted an extens ive assessment of the EC's vete rinary infrastructure, import 
and movement controls, surveillance procedur es, control measures, laboratories, testing 
methodologies and audit mechanis ms.  It was determined that the overall risk for horse 
importation is very low, subject to import c onditions that address the varying horse disease 
statuses of the EC Member States. G/SPS/N/CAN/342 
Page 2  
 
   For clarity, the conditions have been separated into three docum ents; one for stallions, one for 
mares, and one for horses under two years of age and geldings. 
The documents define import conditions, includi ng:  import permits, export certificates, 
residency, disease status and prevention, identifi cation and pre-export isol ation.  There is also 
an additional requirement for hor ses under 2 years of age and geld ings, to certify that each 
horse has never been bred or attempted to be br ed or been in contact with breeding animals. 
The conditions for African Horse Sickness (AHS), Dourine, Glanders, Japanese Encephalitis, 
Venezuelan Equine Encephalomylitis (VEE), Eq uine Piroplasmosis and Equine Infectious 
Anemia are identical in these three documents.  The Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM) section is different fo r mares and stallions.  
7. Objective and rationale:  [   ] food safety, [ X ] animal health,  [   ] plant protection, [  
 ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease,  [   ] protect territory from other 
damage from pests    
8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[   ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [ X ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention, [   ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:  OIE Section 2.5 
9. Relevant documents and language (s) in which these are available:   None 
10. Proposed date of adoption:   Late September 2008 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:   Late September 2008 
12. Final date for comments:  2 September 2008 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [   ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or  address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body: 
13. Texts available from:  [   ] National notifica tion authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: