By Jos Mottershead and Kathy St. Martin
It should be noted that while this article is correct at the time of going to press (April 2010, updated December 2020), the regulations may change at any given time. You are therefore advised to confirm currency of all information and forms contained herein with CFIA and/or USDA prior to collection and shipment of semen. This is a guide only and should not be taken as definitive.
Current regulations can be obtained through the Canadian Automated Import Reference System
Importation of semen from the USA to Canada is not insurmountable with the new regulations - indeed, they are essentially the same as the "old" regulations that were in place before the border opened to semen movement about 20 years ago - but they may prove difficult or impossible for some who want to ship cooled semen because of time-lines.
USDA now has an on-line system for procuring export certificates - the Veterinary Export Health Certification System (VEHCS). US Veterinarians must be enrolled in the system, which is free of charge (the usual certificate costs still apply), and prevents the need for physically attending a USDA office for certificate endorsement. The veterinarian submits to USDA on-line, and some hours later will receive the endorsed certificate back. If the shipping farm has a VEHCS account, the certificate can be forwarded directly to them. They can also make payment for the certificate directly to USDA through the VEHCS account. Details are available at the USDA VEHCS Help Page.
The steps for semen export are as follows:
By April of 2009, with the requirement that all semen - including cooled - imported from the USA to Canada be accompanied by both an import permit and a Zoosanitary Certificate endorsed by USDA, it was recognized that this presented a problem for many breeders in that time constraints prevented the obtaining of the USDA endorsement before the courier shipment deadline. Hence, many US stallions owners ceased to ship cooled semen to Canada. With the implementation of the VEHCS system, this should now not present a problem for most.
As one can see, it's not difficult, but there are some specific steps that must be completed. If they are not, then the semen will be rejected at the time of inspection by CBSA. The requirement for endorsement by USDA-Aphis in particular is the item that may produce impossible time constraints for some. Obviously frozen semen will permit longer time-delays.
Note that there are NO differences as to the region where the horse is located. Some Internet bulletin board or Facebook posts that we have seen reference the stallion being in a "CEM free zone", a "State not currently affected" or from a "USDA Certified CEM-Free farm" and that it might make a difference. It makes no difference to the import requirements. It is semen from ALL farms and ALL of the USA that must be certified in the manner described! If there are other diseases within the stallion farm's state or within a certain radius, other requirements may also apply (an example would be Vesicular Stomatitis).
The horse semen is certified as free of Contagious Equine Metritis (CEM) as follows:
The semen was legally imported into the U.S. for unrestricted use.
Country where semen was collected: [insert country of origin]
Originally published by Equine-Reproduction.com 02/18/2009, with updates added 04/27/2009, 05/31/2017, 12/10/2020
Reviewed for content currency 04/22/2010, 05/31/2017
Current regulations can be obtained through the Canadian Automated Import Reference System
Use "semen" in the commodity search, then "equine (horse)" in the subsequent search field, then answer the questions appropriately.
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