An Act to establish the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and to repeal and amend other Acts as a consequenceCanadian Food Inspection Agency ActCanadian Food Inspection Agency1997March
20
201301
28
C-16.561997PreambleWHEREAS the Government of Canada wishes to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of federal inspection and related services for food and animal and plant health by consolidating them;WHEREAS the consolidation of those services under a single food inspection agency will contribute to consumer protection and facilitate a more uniform and consistent approach to safety and quality standards and risk-based inspection systems;WHEREAS the Government of Canada wishes to have that food inspection agency deliver those services in a cost effective manner;WHEREAS the Government of Canada wishes to promote trade and commerce;AND WHEREAS the Government of Canada wishes to pursue a greater degree of collaboration and consultation between federal departments and with other orders of government in this area;NOW, THEREFORE, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:SHORT TITLE
Short titleThis Act may be cited as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act.
INTERPRETATION
DefinitionsThe definitions in this section apply in this Act.AgencyAgenceAgency means the Canadian Food Inspection Agency established by section 3.MinisterministreMinister means the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE AGENCY
EstablishmentThere is hereby established a body corporate called the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which may exercise powers only as an agent of Her Majesty in right of Canada.
Minister responsibleThe Minister is responsible for and has the overall direction of the Agency.Delegation by MinisterThe Minister may delegate to any person any power, duty or function conferred on the Minister under this Act or any Act or provision that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of section 11, except the power to make regulations and the power to delegate under this subsection.
ORGANIZATION AND HEAD OFFICE
Appointment of Agency executivesThe Governor in Council shall appoint a President and an Executive Vice-president of the Agency to hold office during pleasure for a term not exceeding five years, which term may be renewed for one or more further terms.
President’s powersThe President is chief executive officer of the Agency and has supervision over and direction of its work and staff. The President has the rank and all the powers of a deputy head of a Department.Executive Vice-president’s powersThe Executive Vice-president shall exercise such powers and perform such duties and functions as the President may assign and shall act as President if that office is vacant or if the President is absent or incapacitated.
Delegation by PresidentThe President may delegate to any person any power, duty or function conferred on the President under this Act or any other enactment.
RemunerationThe President and Executive Vice-president shall be paid such remuneration as is fixed by the Governor in Council.
Head officeThe head office of the Agency shall be in the National Capital Region, as described in the schedule to the National Capital Act.
ADVISORY BOARD
Appointment of membersThe Minister shall appoint an advisory board of not more than twelve members to hold office during pleasure for a term not exceeding three years, which term may be renewed for one or more further terms.Role of advisory boardThe board shall advise the Minister on any matter within the responsibilities of the Agency.RepresentationThe Minister may appoint any person with relevant knowledge or experience to the advisory board, including persons from the agriculture, fisheries, food processing, food distribution and public health sectors, consumer groups or provincial or municipal governments.ChairpersonThe Minister shall appoint one of the members as Chairperson of the advisory board.Fees for servicesEach member of the advisory board shall be paid such fees for his or her services as are fixed by the Minister.Travel and living expensesEach member of the advisory board shall be reimbursed for reasonable travel and living expenses incurred by the member in the course of performing duties under this Act while absent from his or her ordinary place of residence.MeetingsThe Chairperson may determine the times and places at which the advisory board will meet.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE AGENCY
Administration and enforcementThe Agency is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act, Canada Agricultural Products Act, Feeds Act, Fertilizers Act, Fish Inspection Act, Health of Animals Act, Meat Inspection Act, Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, Plant Protection Act and Seeds Act.Consumer Packaging and Labelling ActThe Agency is responsible for the enforcement of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act as it relates to food, as that term is defined in section 2 of the Food and Drugs Act.Food and Drugs ActThe Agency is responsible forthe enforcement of the Food and Drugs Act as it relates to food, as defined in section 2 of that Act; andthe administration of the provisions of the Food and Drugs Act as they relate to food, as defined in section 2 of that Act, except those provisions that relate to public health, safety or nutrition.Role of Minister of HealthThe Minister of Health is responsible for establishing policies and standards relating to the safety and nutritional quality of food sold in Canada and assessing the effectiveness of the Agency’s activities related to food safety.Role of Canada Border Services AgencyThe Canada Border Services Agency is responsible for the enforcement of the program legislation referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition “program legislation” in section 2 of the Canada Border Services Agency Act as that program legislation relates to the delivery of passenger and initial import inspection services performed at airports and other Canadian border points other than import service centres.
  • 1997, c. 6, s. 11;
  • 2005, c. 38, s. 53.
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HUMAN RESOURCES
Separate agencyThe Agency is a separate agency under the Public Service Labour Relations Act.
  • 1997, c. 6, s. 12;
  • 2003, c. 22, s. 135.
Previous Version
President’s authority to appoint employeesThe President has the authority to appoint the employees of the Agency.Terms and conditions of employmentThe President may set the terms and conditions of employment for employees of the Agency and assign duties to them.Enforcement officersThe President may designate any person or class of persons as inspectors, analysts, graders, veterinary inspectors or other officers for the enforcement or administration of any Act or provision that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of section 11, in respect of any matter referred to in the designation.
POWERS OF THE AGENCY
Contracts and agreementsThe Agency may enter into contracts, memoranda of understanding and other agreements with a department or agency of the Government of Canada or the government of a province and with any other person or organization in the name of Her Majesty in right of Canada or in its own name.International arrangementsIn exercising its responsibilities, the Agency may negotiate and enter into arrangements for the implementation of technical requirements for the international movement of products or other things regulated under an Act or provision that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of section 11.
Legal proceedingsActions, suits or other legal proceedings in respect of any right or obligation acquired or incurred by the Agency, whether in its own name or in the name of Her Majesty in right of Canada, may be brought or taken by or against the Agency in the name of the Agency in any court that would have jurisdiction if the Agency were not an agent of Her Majesty.
Choice of service providersNotwithstanding section 9 of the Department of Public Works and Government Services Act, the Agency may, with the approval of the Governor in Council given on the recommendation of the Treasury Board, procure goods and services, including legal services, from outside the federal public administration.
  • 1997, c. 6, s. 16;
  • 2003, c. 22, s. 224(E).
Previous Version
Intellectual propertyThe Agency may license, sell or otherwise make available any patent, copyright, industrial design, trade-mark or other similar property right that is vested in Her Majesty in right of Canada under any Act or provision that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of section 11.
Interim injunctionThe Agency may apply to a judge of a court of competent jurisdiction for an interim injunction enjoining any person from contravening an Act or provision that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of section 11, whether or not a prosecution has been instituted in respect of that contravention.
RECALL ORDERS
Recall orderWhere the Minister believes on reasonable grounds that a product regulated under an Act or provision that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of section 11 poses a risk to public, animal or plant health, the Minister may, by notice served on any person selling, marketing or distributing the product, order that the product be recalled or sent to a place designated by the Minister.Contravention of recall orderAny person who contravenes a recall order referred to in subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months or to both.Notification of orderFor greater certainty, a recall order is not a statutory instrument for the purposes of the Statutory Instruments Act, but no person shall be convicted of an offence under subsection (2) unless the person was notified of the order.
ESTABLISHMENT OF FEDERAL-PROVINCIAL CORPORATIONS
Federal-provincial agreementsThe Minister may, with the approval of the Governor in Council given on the recommendation of the Minister of Finance, enter into an agreement with one or more provincial governments for the provision of services or the carrying out of activities within the responsibilities of the Agency, in common with those governments.
Object of agreementsThe agreement referred to in section 20 may authorize the Minister, jointly with one or more provincial governments, to have a corporation incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act, the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act or an equivalent provincial statute, or to acquire shares or participate in any corporation, in order to implement the agreement.
  • 1997, c. 6, s. 21;
  • 2009, c. 23, s. 318.
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CORPORATE BUSINESS PLAN AND ANNUAL REPORT
Corporate business planAs soon as possible after the Agency is established and at least once every five years after that, the Agency must submit a corporate business plan to the Minister for approval and the Minister must table a copy of the plan in each House of Parliament on any of the first fifteen days on which that House is sitting after the Minister approves the plan.Contents of corporate business planThe corporate business plan must include a statement ofthe Agency’s objectives for the period to which the plan relates and for each year in that period;the strategies that the Agency intends to use to achieve its objectives, including operational, financial and human resource strategies;the Agency’s expected performance over that period; andthe Agency’s operating and capital budgets for each year of that period.Updating of corporate business planThe Agency may update its corporate business plan in its annual report.
Annual reportThe President must, before September 30 of each year following the Agency’s first full year of operations, submit an annual report on the operations of the Agency for the preceding year to the Minister and the Minister must table a copy of the report in each House of Parliament on any of the first fifteen days on which that House is sitting after the Minister receives the report.Form and contentsThe annual report must includethe financial statements of the Agency;information about the Agency’s performance with respect to the objectives established in the corporate business plan; andany other information that the Minister or the Treasury Board may require to be included in it.
  • 1997, c. 6, s. 23;
  • 2012, c. 19, s. 186.
Previous Version
FEES AND EXPENDITURES
Fees for services or use of facilitiesSubject to the regulations, the Minister may fix the fees to be paid for a service or the use of a facility provided by the Agency.Amount not to exceed costFees fixed under subsection (1) may not exceed the cost to Her Majesty in right of Canada of providing the service or the use of the facility.
Fees for products, rights and privilegesSubject to the regulations, the Minister may fix fees in respect of products, rights and privileges provided by the Agency.
ConsultationBefore fixing a fee under section 24 or 25, the Minister must consult with any persons or organizations that the Minister considers to be interested in the matter.PublicationThe Minister must publish any fee fixed under section 24 or 25 in the Canada Gazette within thirty days after fixing it.Reference to CommitteeAny fee fixed under section 24 or 25 stands permanently referred to the Committee referred to in section 19 of the Statutory Instruments Act, to be reviewed and scrutinized as if it were a statutory instrument.
RegulationsThe Treasury Board may make regulations for the purposes of sections 24 to 26.
Collection of feesThe Agency may enter into an agreement with any person, provincial government or other authority respecting the collection of fees fixed under this Act or any other Act that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of subsection 11(1) and, notwithstanding subsections 17(1) and (4) of the Financial Administration Act, authorizing that person, government or authority to withhold amounts from those fees.
Remission of feesThe Minister may remit all or part of any fee fixed under section 24 or 25 or under any Act that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of subsection 11(1), and the interest on it.Non-payment of feesThe Minister may withdraw or withhold a service, use of a facility, a product or conferral of a right or privilege within the responsibilities of the Agency, from any person who fails to pay the fee fixed for it if, in the Minister’s opinion, it is consistent with public health and safety.
ExpenditureIn carrying out its responsibilities, the Agency may spend money that Parliament appropriates to it and revenues received by it through the conduct of its operations, includingpayments for the sale, exchange, lease, loan, transfer or other disposition of personal or movable property;payments for the sale, lease or other disposition or transfer of real or immovable property;fees for the provision of a service or use of a facility or for a product, right or privilege; andrefunds of expenditures made in the previous fiscal year.
ACCOUNTING
Books and recordsThe Agency must keep books of account and records prepared according to generally accepted accounting principles.
[Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 188]Previous Version
TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
Appropriation ActThe provisions made by any appropriation Act for the fiscal year in which this section comes into force or a subsequent fiscal year, based on the Estimates for that year, to defray the charges and expenses of the public service of Canada within the Departments of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Fisheries and Oceans and Health in relation to any matter for which the Agency is responsible by virtue of section 11 are deemed to be an amount appropriated for defraying the charges and expenses of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in such amount as the Treasury Board may, on the recommendations of the Ministers of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Fisheries and Oceans and Health, determine.
Agency employees continuedOn the coming into force of subsection 13(1), employees deployed to the Agency, or appointed to it by the Public Service Commission, are deemed to have been appointed by the President and continue to be employed by the Agency with the same tenure of office.Pending competitions and appointmentsOn the coming into force of subsection 13(1), a competition being conducted or an appointment being made under the Public Service Employment Act shall continue to be conducted or made as if that section had not come into force.
Eligibility listsAn eligibility list made under the Public Service Employment Act that is valid on the coming into force of subsection 13(1) of this Act continues to be valid for the period provided for by subsection 17(2) of that Act, but that period may not be extended.
Pending appealsAn appeal commenced under section 21 of the Public Service Employment Act and not finally disposed of on the coming into force of subsection 13(1) of this Act shall be dealt with and disposed of in accordance with that Act as if that subsection had not come into force.Other recourseAny recourse commenced under the Public Service Employment Act that has not been finally dealt with on the coming into force of subsection 13(1) of this Act shall be dealt with and disposed of in accordance with that Act as if that subsection had not come into force.
Designations continuedEvery inspector, analyst, grader, veterinary inspector or other officer appointed or designated under an Act referred to in section 11 to enforce or administer any Act or provision that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of that section is deemed to be designated by the President under subsection 13(3), according to the terms of the original designation or appointment.
CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS
[Amendments]
CONDITIONAL AMENDMENTS
[Amendments]
REPEAL
[Repeal]
COMING INTO FORCE
Coming into forceThis Act, or any provision of this Act, or any provision of any Act enacted or amended by this Act, comes into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.[Note: Act, except subsection 13(1) and section 31, in force April 1, 1997, see SI/97-37; subsection 13(1) in force April 1, 1998, see SI/97-122; section 31 in force March 31, 2000, see SI/2000-21.]
RELATED PROVISIONS — 2012, c. 19, s. 202
Canadian Food Inspection Agency ActThe obligations under sections 23 and 32 of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act, as those sections read immediately before the day on which this Act receives royal assent, continue to apply in respect of the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2011 but do not apply in respect of any subsequent fiscal year.
AMENDMENTS NOT IN FORCE — 2012, c. 24, s. 74
Seized thingsSections 28 to 37 apply in respect of any thing seized under the Fish Inspection Act, the Meat Inspection Act or the Canada Agricultural Products Act — or seized under the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act by a person designated as an inspector under the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act for the enforcement of the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act as it relates to food — that had not been returned to any person, released or forfeited, or removed from Canada, before the day on which section 1 comes into force.
 — 2012, c. 24, s. 103
Subsections 11(1) and (2) of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Act are replaced by the following:
Administration and enforcementThe Agency is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Act, Feeds Act, Fertilizers Act, Health of Animals Act, Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, Plant Protection Act, Safe Food for Canadians Act and Seeds Act.
 — 2012, c. 24, s. 104
The heading before section 19 of the English version of the Act is replaced by the following:RECALLS
 — 2012, c. 24, s. 105
The Act is amended by adding the following after section 19:
RegulationsThe Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the recall of products regulated under an Act or provision that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of section 11.
REVIEW OF CERTAIN MEASURES
Review officerThe Minister may designate as review officers any individual or class of individuals that are qualified to conduct reviews under section 19.3.
Request for reviewOn the request of a prescribed person in relation to a prescribed decision made under an Act or provision that the Agency enforces or administers by virtue of section 11, a review officer must conduct a review of the decision in the prescribed manner subject to the regulations and the other provisions of this section.Contents of requestThe request must be made in the prescribed manner, contain the prescribed information and be made in the prescribed time after the making of the decision.IneligibilityThe review officer must be a person other than the one who made the decision.RestrictionThe review is restricted to questions of fact alone or questions of mixed law and fact.No authority to reviewThe review is not to be conducted if the request does not comply with subsection (2) or is frivolous, vexatious or not made in good faith.Reasons for refusalIf subsection (5) applies, the person who made the request is to be, without delay, notified in writing of the reasons for the review not being conducted.Decision not stayedThe conduct of the review does not stay the decision unless the review officer decides otherwise.Decision on completion of reviewOn completion of the review, the review officer must confirm, vary or cancel the decision.NoticeThe person who made the request must, without delay, be notified in writing of the reasons for the review officer’s decision under subsection (8).RegulationsThe Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing anything that by this section is to be prescribed.