June 15-18, 2010 visit to British Columbia by Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service
Memo to Members/Grading Agencies
On June 15 and 16, 2010 the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service met with representatives from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Natural Resources Canada (NRC), Canada Wood, MacDonald Inspection Service, Canadian Mill Services Association, Macdonald Inspection Services Ltd. and CLSAB. The focus of the meeting as it affects the CLSAB was on the Canadian Accredited Timber Scheme (CATS) which is a voluntary program that enables certified mills to ship green lumber to Australia in compliance with Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) plant health regulations.
The AQIS representatives indicated that:
- they have recently restructured and that resources have been made available to them to review the existing CATS program to ensure they are adequately managing pests of concern (wood destroying fungi was a concern raised during the meeting),
- they would prefer a signed government (AQIS) to government (CFIA) agreement instead of the current approach of AQIS to CLSAB and AQIS to CMSA,
- they recognize commercial interests and these will be considered in the review, and
- they will be supplying CIFA and NRC with a list of concerns to start the review.
The stated position of the CLSAB at the meeting was that we are willing to work with AQIS to maintain the shipment of green lumber to Australia by reviewing interception results to
determine what can be addressed quickly and then work on the more difficult issues.
CLSAB will work closely with CFIA and NRC during this review.
If you have any questions regarding this memorandum please do not hesitate to contact me by email at
cdentelbeck-clsab@telus.net or by phone at 604-516-9400.
Chuck Dentelbeck, President & CEO, CLSAB
June 29, 2010
Filed on July 13, 2010
