Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Members of the House committee on agriculture and agrifood, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
As you know, the Canadian Produce Marketing Association represents over 840 companies across the fruit and vegetable supply chain, from farm gate to dinner plate. Our members do business with over 100 countries around the world, and we navigate through various trade issues while doing business with foreign countries.
I'd like to start by taking the opportunity to thank the Senate committee on agriculture and forestry for their recent market access report, which addresses many of the non-tariff trade barriers faced by our industry. The recommendations stemming from the report are relevant and fully supported by the CPMA.
In that spirit, we are pleased to see this committee study non-tariff trade barriers. I would like to highlight a few of these that should be considered when negotiating FTAs.
As you're aware, the Barton report suggests that the agrifood sector has immense potential domestically and globally, and this growth can be supported through the reduction of non-tariff trade barriers that stand in the way of sector prosperity. Trade barriers come in many forms, and the perishability and small margins associated with the fresh produce sector require the tools associated with free trade agreements to enhance profitability.
For example, something as simple as labelling rules can create challenging trade situations. Domestic procurement strategies and rules such as country-of-origin labelling can be thinly disguised trade barriers intended to increase importer costs and to foster a perception that imports may be inherently less safe or of lesser quality.
Regulatory alignment with other countries and trading rules based on sound science are also key to improving market access. Too often, we hear of companies that are looking for export opportunities but are met with roadblocks on issues such as plant protection, including the lack of alignment on maximum residue levels, or industry's continuing challenge to access production tools registered for use by Canada's key trading partners. A process to jointly register plant protection products with trading partners and alignment on MRLs would support competitiveness on an international level.
The border can also be a challenge for exporters. Even discrepancies in understanding or recognizing grades at the border is an issue.
When developing FTAs, we would encourage the government to work towards harmonized solutions to these issues, which can pose significant barriers to growth and expansion in existing and emerging markets.
On the topic of harmonization, there are long-standing issues around nomenclature and the differences between countries for identifying products for customs clearance. Ambiguity around the identification of an item can slow down the automated clearing process and pre-clearing process and can lead to misidentification of items. Also, it could lead to delays in the arrival of the product and the misreporting by customs. Where possible, we would encourage the government to work with foreign authorities to find ways to use a common identification system at a level that provides the necessary information to identify products and avoid confusion at the border.
Expanding on customs clearance, FTA negotiations should examine foreign customs programs, trading systems, and the infrastructure required to facilitate trade. This would ideally include inspection services, phytosanitary measures, and food safety systems that are mutually recognized and respected by all countries involved in the agreement.
One final issue for the industry, and one that many of you are familiar with, is ensuring that the countries we are entering into these agreements with have fully developed dispute resolution mechanisms in the event our exporters find themselves in a slow-pay, no-pay, or bankruptcy situation. We are thankful for the incredible work done here in Canada by the dispute resolution corporation on slow pay and no pay and believe this structure can be a model for the world in terms of financial risk mitigation for the industry.
In closing, I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me here today to discuss these important issues. The CPMA remains actively engaged in government consultation on trade negotiations with new and existing markets and looks forward to seeing the recommendations stemming from this study. As always, we're happy to work with all members of the committee and the government to grow the industry both domestically and abroad.
I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Thank you very much.