Canada and the European Union have agreed to an African swine fever (ASF) zoning arrangement.

The agreement would allow for safe trade of swine products from disease-free zones in the event of an ASF outbreak.

"Through continued international collaboration, the Government of Canada is taking a leadership role in preventing and mitigating the potential impact of ASF, should it be introduced to Canada," said Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. "Following the recently announced Canada/US zoning arrangement, we have now reached a similar arrangement with the EU so that our farmers can continue to earn their livelihoods from the trade of pork and pork products in case ASF is found in Canada.''

Zoning is an internationally recognized tool used to help manage animal diseases and facilitate international trade. If a positive case of ASF is confirmed in an area, geographic boundaries are defined to contain the outbreak. These geographic boundaries are control zones established in accordance with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) principles. The areas outside of these control zones are disease-free zones.

While there are zoning principles already in place with the EU that apply to ASF under the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), the arrangement is an additional step forward in international collaboration in mitigating the risk of ASF while maintaining safe trade.

Canada exported over 4.2 million dollars' worth of pork and pork products to the EU in 2018.

 

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