Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced today that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will continue to cap user fees at $75 for certain livestock and embryo industries until September 2013, while the CFIA works with industry to modernize the user fee structure.

"Our Government is listening to producers and we are working with them to correct these fees and make them more reflective of the costs of the services provided," said Minister Ritz. "This initiative will provide immediate relief to Canadian beef and pork producers who currently face an unnecessary burden."

The Government of Canada applies user fees across all sectors for a broad range of services, rights and privileges. The CFIA has not increased its fees or instituted new fees since the Agency was created in 1997. The current fees have not kept pace with technological advances; shipments of live animals and embryos are now much larger than were originally anticipated.

The user fee cap is specific to a number of export certification fees that are currently charged on a per-unit basis with no upper limit. This user fee cap applies to certain swine, cattle, flightless birds, poultry, hatching eggs, horses, sheep and goats. The user fee cap will have no impact on the level of inspection or the health of animals that the CFIA provides.