US embassy cable - 03HALIFAX372

UNCLAS HALIFAX 000372 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CAN 
DEPT PLEASE PASS FDA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EFIS, EAGR, TBIO, PREL, CA, US, FDA, Trade 
SUBJECT: FDA BIOTERROR RULES:  POSITIVE LOCAL REACTION 
 
REF: HALIFAX 0110 AND PREVIOUS 
 
1. (U) Government and fishing industry officials in Atlantic 
Canada have told us that they are generally pleased with the 
FDA's anti-bioterrorism regulations, principally those 
concerning the prior notice time for perishable shipments.  Our 
contacts were deeply concerned that the 24-hour notice time that 
had been originally proposed would have severely hampered the 
cross border seafood trade.  Exporters and New England fish 
buyers processors had mounted an intense lobbying effort that 
ultimately saw the regulations amended to provide for just two 
hours notice. 
 
2. (SBU) New Brunswick's Director of Trade, Harry Quinlan, told 
us on November 6 that this amendment was a clear indication that 
the US government officials had made a substantial effort to 
make the regulations more user-friendly.  Moreover, he said he 
and his provincial colleagues and counterparts were very pleased 
that they had the opportunity to make comments on the proposed 
rules before they were finalized. 
 
3. (U) One Nova Scotia fish exporter, Denny Morrow of the Nova 
Scotia Fish Packers Association, echoed Quinlan's comments and 
also told us that he was very appreciative of the efforts by 
high level officials including Ambassador Paul Cellucci.  Morrow 
told us he was very pleased by the Ambassador's personal 
attention to this issue which he saw as very effective in 
bringing about the notification amendments. 
 
4. (U) Morrow repeated his comments in a local press interview 
with the "Sou'wester" a bi-weekly fishing industry newspaper 
published in Yarmouth Nova Scotia.  In the article headlined, 
"Anti-Terrorism Bill - Amendments a Boon to Seafood Industry", 
Morrow was quoted as saying, "US Ambassador to Canada Paul 
Cellucci also deserves a special note of thanks for making sure 
that the concerns of the seafood industry in Atlantic Canada 
were heard in Washington." (A copy of the press article is being 
faxed to Embassy Ottawa and WHA/CAN.) 
 
5. (SBU) Morrow and Quinlan, along with Quinlan's Nova Scotia 
counterpart, Greg Bent, have mentioned that they see some minor 
problems with the regulations, such as the added expense of very 
small, family-run fish exporting businesses.  Bent's primary 
concern is his belief that there will be no uniformity with 
which border enforcement officials will apply the new 
regulations. Nonetheless, he predicted that with the anticipated 
training, personnel would eventually be "singing from the same 
song book."  Morrow also believes that there will be sufficient 
leniency during the start-up phase that exporters would not 
likely see any measurable impact on their operations. 
 
6. (SBU) COMMENT:  Overall, there is a general sense of relief 
that the region was able to emerge from this process with all of 
their concerns heard, on the notice time as well as and other 
issues.  With that, New Brunswick's Quinlan best summed up the 
reaction here with his comment that clearly what has emerged is 
a reasonable way of moving food produce and fish across the 
U.S.-Canada border.  END COMMENT 
 
 
 
HILL