Released by the Canadian Trucking Alliance
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will implement a policy on Aug. 1 that has the potential to cause significant disruption to commercial vehicle travel and all cross-border trade, says the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA).
In its recent correspondence on CDC’s upcoming dog importation rules, the Alliance is asking U.S. and Canadian trade committees to put pressure on decision makers to bring common sense to the situation before the Aug. 1 deadline. Specifically, CTA is requesting the implementation of this rule be delayed until at least January 2025, or until the CDC and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) have agreed that all issues have been addressed. The Alliance says pushing the deadline back will boost compliance and protect pets travelling with cross-border truck drivers.
“We believe that such an approach will bring about a better policy that protects our animals as well as allowing for all cross-border travellers to better understand how to comply with this requirement,” said CTA president Stephen Laskowski.
Although the Alliance understands the policy is meant to mitigate the spread of rabies, it continues to express its concerns about the structure of the policy, how rapidly it has been introduced, and the lack of communication and awareness amongst all travellers about this upcoming change.
If implemented as currently outlined, the policy could delay shipments carried by commercial drivers who are travelling with their dogs, which could potentially lead to a logjam in secondary inspection and cause backups that would impact all truck drivers, whether they’re travelling with a dog or not. There is also lack of clarity around how border admissibility will be impacted, and how truck drivers and their loads will be treated if unintentional noncompliance occurs.
The risk of these potential ramifications remains difficult to understand, as Canada remains a low-risk country for the spread of rabies. The CFIA states that dog rabies is currently not present in Canada.
“We have presented a solution that not only protects our pets, but also respects our drivers and avoids the potential delays to cross border travel, and the potential impact to billions of dollars in trade,” says Laskowski.
Earlier this week, Minister of Health, Mark Holland, held a press conference and issued a statement outlining recent changes to remove CFIA certificate verification and relaxing specific microchip requirements> he also commented how the rule could impact several different sectors, including the trucking industry and the supply chain:
“Transportation sectors, such as trucking, will face challenges that will affect both American and Canadian supply chains,” he said “Canada and the U.S. trade billions of dollars in goods and services every year. At a time when cost of living and economic growth are top of mind for our citizens, implementing these new CDC measures could strain these critical supply chains.”
CTA continues to actively work with all relevant government departments, embassy contacts, and U.S. officials on this issue, as the CFIA and CDC continue their discussions.
More Information
Members that are impacted by this policy are encouraged to review the CDC website and the CFIA website on a regular basis for updates.
