As of September 23, 2024, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will be making the following service change at the National Centre for Permissions:
Charging service fees for processing Ministerial Exemption applications
Applications for Ministerial Exemptions for fresh fruit and vegetables will be charged the service fee for the consideration of an application at the time of submission regardless if the application is denied or if an exemption is granted. The fee will continue to be charged based on the number of loads as per the CFIA Fees Notice.
This change was communicated in May and June of 2022 and was postponed due to internal process challenges. Improvements are now complete to proceed with processing fees as per the CFIA Fees Notice.
The onus is on the applicant to submit a complete and accurate application.
Amendments to Ministerial Exemption applications are permitted under limited conditions where changes are not considered significant. These amendments do not have a fee associated with the consideration of the amended application.
Amendments will not be considered to valid Ministerial Exemptions in the following situations:
| shipping dates are outside of the start date and end date as stated on the proof of shortage;the consignee changes except when consignee’s licence was suspended or cancelled after the Ministerial Exemption was issued or the consignee’s facility is not accessible due to fire, construction damage or similar issues;there is an addition of loads;there are changes to the commodity type; orthere are changes to the purpose of the request. |
Applications for Ministerial Exemptions require an assessment by the CFIA. Note that processing fees associated with loads for which an exemption was issued but were not shipped within the start and end date of the exemption, will not be refunded.
These fees are being collected to align with the Service Fees Act to reflect the cost for reviewing, assessing the request and if required, issuing the exemption. There will be no changes related to how an application is considered or the length of time to review the submission.
Steps to Take to Prepare for the September 23rd Change
The preferred payment method is the on-account option with a CFIA billing account. Businesses that submit more than one application a year can make billing more efficient by selecting monthly invoicing on-account as their online payment option in My CFIA. To set up an on-account, fill out a form for an Application for Credit (Form CFIA/ACIA 0015).
For information on accounting or invoicing, please refer to the CFIA Fees Notice or contact the National Centre for Accounts Receivable at 1.888.677.2342.