. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/635 
20 February 2006 
 (06-0700) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
  
UPDATE ON DEVELOPMENTS IN CANADA REGARDING  
BOVINE SPONGIFORM ENCEPHALOPATHY (BSE) 
 
Statement by Canada at the Meeting of 1-2 February 2006
 
  
 The following communication, received on 1 February 2006, is being circulated at the request of the Delegation of Canada. 
 
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1. Canada is pleased to report on two developments  relating to BSE in Canada.  First, as you 
will recall, at the June 2005 SPS Committee meeting, Canada advised that it had notified its draft BSE 
Import Policy for Bovine Animals and their Pr oducts (G/SPS/N/CAN/244).  Following a 60-day 
comment period ending on 22 July 2005, Canada u ndertook an analysis of the comments received, 
both from WTO Members and domestic stakeholders.  On 9 December 2005, the policy was finalized 
and adopted by Canada.  This was notified to WTO Members on 15 December 2005 by an addendum 
to the earlier notification (G/SPS/N/CAN/244/Add.1). 
2. The new import policy is based largely on the guidelines and text adopted by the World 
Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for BSE in May 2005, and reflects current scientific understanding of the measures necessary to protect  human and animal health.  Canada undertook to 
review and update its BSE import pol icy following a similar review by the OIE of its standards, 
recognizing that the international scientific unde rstanding of BSE and the available measures to 
mitigate its transmission have evolved substantially in recent years.  In  light of revisions made to the 
international standards, our previous policy was dete rmined to be more restrictive than the current 
international standards which provide the scientific basis to protect human and animal health while 
permitting safe trade. 
3. One example of how our BSE import policy has adopted a less restrictive approach is the 
inclusion of commodities eligible fo r safe trade whether or not a country  has confirmed cases of BSE.  
Consistent with the new OIE guidelines, boneless meat  from animals less than 30 months of age is 
now included in the list of commodities that are elig ible for safe trade whether or not a country has 
confirmed cases of BSE.  Moreover, under our im port policy, science-based standards have been 
elaborated for safe trade in other commodities including bone-in meat, meat from animals over 30 months of age and live animals with additional certification guarantees, in recognition of the 
effectiveness of control measures in place without  necessarily having to conduct a risk assessment.   G/SPS/GEN/635 
Page 2  
 
  4. This policy will maintain Cana da’s appropriate level of pr otection but in a less trade 
restrictive manner.  This policy pr ovides a framework to assess the BSE-risk status of a country and a 
range of applicable measures to ensure that the likelihood of importing the BSE-agent leading to the exposure of humans and animals is negligible.  The conditions are sp ecific for BSE in bovine animals 
only. 
5. It is important to note that, before a partic ular commodity can be imported, other relevant 
conditions must still be met, for example, the eval uation and approval of the meat inspection system 
of a country, specific measures for other animal di seases of concern, and the hygienic removal of 
specified risk materials. 
6. In addition to finalizing and adopting a revi sed import policy, on 23 January 2006, Canada 
released its epidemiological report, entitled "Canad a’s Assessment of the North American BSE Cases 
Diagnosed from 2003-2005 (Part II)"  (http://www.insp ection.gc.ca/english/anima/heasan/disemala/ 
bseesb/eval2005/evale.shtml).  This report is subseque nt to a report issued in July 2003 following the 
finding of the first indigenous Canadian case of BSE in May 2003.  The January 2006 report provides 
an updated examination of the current BSE situa tion in Canada based on the understanding of the 
disease to date. 
 7. BSE is thought to have entered North Ameri ca during the 1980s when a limited number of 
cattle were imported from the United Kingdom. Given th e incubation period of BSE, some of these 
cattle could have been infected with BSE despite appearing healthy and having been certified to have 
originated from farms in the United Kingdom where BSE had not been detected. 
8. This report identifies the common elements of  the cases in North America that support the 
current hypothesis as to why most of the diagno ses have occurred in cattle born within a specific 
geographic area in Western Canada, why the animals ha ve been born within specific time periods and 
what this information indicates about the level of BSE remaining in North America. 
9. The report supports the conclusion that the leve l of BSE in Canada is exceedingly low and 
declining in response to remedial measur es that have been applied by Canada. 
10. In light of our epidemiological findings, and the new science-based sta ndards adopted by the 
OIE, we call upon our trading partners to base th eir measures on the OIE standards, as we have done 
with the adoption of a revised BSE import policy. 
11. With the global identification of BSE continuing to decline to slightly more than 410 animals 
in 2005, down from 878 in 2004 and 1,389 in 2003,  and with the spectre of other emerging zoonotic 
diseases of global concern, it is more important than ever that Members base their import decision-
making on science based standards for safe trade in  order that we create an environment that 
encourages appropriate surveillance, reporting and mitigation investments to protect animal and 
human health. 
 
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