Canadian retailers are reminded to carefully consider and evaluate the regulatory requirement to hold a DRC membership. Under the SFCR, which comes into effect on January 15, 2019, it is prohibited for a person to
(a) sell any fresh fruits or vegetables that are to be exported or sent or conveyed from one province to another;
(b) purchase or negotiate the purchase on another person’s behalf of any fresh fruits or vegetables that are to be imported or sent or conveyed from one province to another;
(c) receive any fresh fruits or vegetables that have been imported or sent or conveyed from one province to another; or
(d) send or convey from one province to another or import or export any fresh fruits or vegetables.
There are exceptions to these prohibitions, some of which are noted below:
- any person who is a member in good standing of the Fruit and Vegetable Dispute Resolution Corporation
- a person who only sells fresh fruits or vegetables directly to consumers if that person paid less than $100,000 for the fresh fruits and vegetables that they sold to consumers within the previous 12 months
A number of retailer operations that have not been subject to the current requirement to hold either a CFIA Produce Licence or a DRC membership as authority to buy and sell fruit and vegetables will now be required to be a member of the DRC.
The requirement will be of particular interest to independent retail operations as well as a number of franchise operators.
To learn more, check out the DRC’s self-assessment for Retail
