. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CAN/242 
2 June 2008 
 (08-2562) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   CANADA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   Canadian Food Inspection Agency 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:    
Canadian Enquiry Point 
200-270 Albert Street Ottawa, Ontario Canada, K1P 6N7 Tel.:   (+1 613) 238 3222 
Fax.:  (+1 613) 569 7808 
E-mail: enquirypoint@scc.ca
 
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:         
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition, where applicable):    
1001101010 Durum wheat, seed, within access commitment 
1001102010 Durum wheat, seed, over access commitment 1001901020 Wheat, seed, within access commitment 1001902020 Wheat, seed, over access commitment 10030010 Barley seed  
5. Title, number of pages and langua ge(s) of the notified document:   Proposed Amendment 
to the Seeds Regulations (7 pages, available in English and French). 
6. Description of content:    
Western Canada has used kernel visual distinguishability (KVD) as a tool for segregating 
wheat in the grain handling system into cl asses (quality types) based on end use (bread, 
pasta, pastry, etc.).  KVD requires that the grain of wheat varieties with similar quality 
characteristics have similar appearances. 
The proposed amendment would remove KVD requirements for imported wheat seed.  
Specifically, the regulatory amendments woul d revoke section 42 of the Regulations to 
remove KVD-related restrictions on importatio n of wheat into the Canadian Wheat Board 
(CWB) Area.   G/TBT/N/CAN/242 
Page 2  
 
  This affects countries that export wheat se ed to Canada.  The proposed amendment 
would permit the import into Canada of seed of unregistered wheat varieties for conditioning, research, seeding by the impor ter or for production of pedigreed seed (for 
export or in anticipation of registration of the variety in Canada), as is currently the case for 
all other crop kinds.  
 
This regulatory amendment would also remove the specific import requirements for spring 
barley seed to be distinguishable from other re gistered varieties for imports into the CWB 
Area.  While distinguishability has not been a requirement for variety registration or 
importation of spring barley since 1996, the Re gulations were not pr eviously amended to 
reflect this change. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
To facilitate international trade by rem oving KVD requirements for imported wheat seed 
that have already been removed for wheat seed of national origin. 
8. Relevant documents:    
Canada Gazette , Part I, 24 May 2008, Pages 1615-1621 (available in English and French) 
 The full current Seeds Regulations  can be downloaded at:  
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/Show FullDoc/cr/C.R.C.-c.1400///en
 (English) 
http://lois.justice.gc.ca/fr/Show FullDoc/cr/C.R.C.-ch.1400///fr   (French) 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   }1 August 2008                      
10. Final date for comments:   23 June 2008 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:   
The electronic version of the proposed regulatory text can be downloaded at: 
http://gazetteducanada.gc.ca/part I/2008/20080524/pdf/g1-14221.pdf  (Canada Gazette ) 
or  http://canadagazette.gc.ca/pa rtI/2008/20080524/htm l/regle1-e.html
 (English)   
http://canadagazette.gc.ca/partI/2008/20080524/html/regle1-f.html  (French)