What's Coming Up

It seems very likely that the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act and the hazardous substances part of the HSNO Act will be implemented in the next few months. The ACVM Group would like remind all potential applicants that any applications received up till the day of implementation will be considered under the Animal Remedies or Pesticides Acts. Any applications received on or after the date of implementation will be considered under the ACVM Act (and the HSNO Act if applicable). The ACVM Group will not be able to register any agricultural compound or veterinary medicine that is also a hazardous substance without an approval under the HSNO Act.

There will be a dedicated issue of AgVetLink closer to the date of implementation covering what to do if you think your product will be exempt under the ACVM Act. Registrants or licensees will have to request a class determination to confirm the status of their product (exempt from the need to be registered without conditions, exempt from the need to be registered with conditions – not notified, exempt from the need to be registered with conditions – notified, exempt from the need to be registered subject to prescribed standards) and request that the registration or licence be cancelled in order to avoid paying the annual fee component.

It is likely that class determinations issued under the ACVM Act will have a ‘life’ of two to three years because we expect that the ‘rules’ around the groups of exempt products will vary in the short term as we start operating under the new legislation. The process will also ensure that border clearance is simplified in that everything with a valid class determination can be allowed in without requiring a check of older class determinations.