Author: DRC

Membership renewal invoices to cover the period January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023, were emailed out on November 16, 2022 to most of our members.

Please note some members may have a different anniversary date depending on when they joined the DRC.  A quick check of your records online at the DRC’s members portal will confirm your anniversary date.

If your company information has changed in the past 12 months, including your responsibly connected individuals, please log in into DRC’s members portal at your earliest convenience and update your records.

Thank you to all our members who have already renewed their membership!

For more information call or email the DRC Help Desk at:

DRC Help Desk | 613-234-0982 | [email protected]

WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

 

The DRC office will be closed Monday December 25 to Wednesday December 28, 2022, inclusively.  Our office will also be closed Monday January 02, 2023.  

 

The DRC Help Desk will remain available Thursday December 29^th, and Friday December 30^th at:

 

DRC Help Desk | 613-234-0982 | [email protected]

Welcome New Members

 

From October 15 until November 15, 2022, DRC welcomed the following new members:

 

ALIMENTS ZAYNAB INC.	QC	Canada
BOVA FRESH LLC.	FL	Canada
FRESH MAKERS LTD.	BC	Canada
HUI DRAGON TRADE LTD. (Also d/b/a Huidragon Logistics)	ON	Canada
LLERO’S TRADING LTD.	ON	Canada
MOONSHINE MAMA’S KITCHENS LTD. (Also d/b/a Moonshine Mama’s)	BC	Canada
RED CROWN VENTURES LTD. (Also d/b/a Red Crown Pomegranate Juice)	BC	Canada
SANLLO CANADA INC. (Also d/b/a Sanllo)	ON	Canada
SANLLO EXPORT, S. L. (Also d/b/a Sanllo)	Valencia	Spain
SOCONUSCO PRODUCE LLC.	TX	United States
SOUTHERN PRIME PRODUCE CORP.	BC	Canada
ZYADCO GROUP CANADA INC.	ON	Canada

 

DRC Membership: change in status

 

As of November 15, 2022, the following organizations no longer hold a DRC membership:

 

BABITH IMPORT AND EXPORT INC.	ON	Canada
CANCAREX FOODS LIMITED	ON	Canada
IMPORT EXPORT ST-EUGÈNE (Faisant également affaire sous 9452-6779 Québec Inc.)	QC	Canada
LA COMPAGNIE DE TISSUS DECORATIFS ARCO LTEE / ARCO DECORATIV	QC	Canada
MAPLE FRESH PRODUCE WHOLESALE (A d/b/a of Arshdeep Sharma)	AB	Canada
NANUM FOODS INC.	AB	Canada
RED CARROTS FARM MARKET LTD.	BC	Canada
SIDAGOOE GLOBAL LIMITED	ON	Canada
SUTHA IMPORTS & EXPORTS LTD.	ON	Canada
VENTURE PRODUCE INC.	PE	Canada

 

Automatic Terminations

On November 1, 2022, KK AGRO FARM INC. was expelled from DRC for failure to meet their financial obligations and failure to provide requested information in violation of section 1.5 of the DRC Trading Standards and section 3.03 of the DRC By-laws. At the time of expulsion, Karunaharan (Kan) Kanthasamy       (Director) was the only responsibly connected persons to this organization.

 

For details regarding a change in status, please contact the office.

 

Important note: Following membership termination, the former member remains liable for claims arising prior to their termination if the claim is submitted to DRC by way of a Notice of Dispute within nine (9) months from when the claim arose or within nine (9) months from when the claimant ought reasonably to have known of its existence.

 

 

About DRC

DRC is a non-profit membership-based organization whose core work is business-to-business commercial dispute resolution for produce. DRC is a referee between parties when a purchase and sale do not go according to plan. Members adhere to a common set of trading standards and member responsibilities that promote fair and ethical trading for produce entering the North American marketplace. In Canada, membership in the DRC is a regulatory requirement to trade fresh fruits and vegetables (i.e.: buy, sell, import, export) unless excepted from the regulations. Today, DRC has members in 16 countries outside of North America, and membership continues to grow annually. Anyone exporting fresh fruits and vegetables to Canada must sell to a DRC member.

 

In addition to the DRC’s Operating Rules and Trading Standards, DRC offers a comprehensive, tailored suite of tools to build the knowledge and capacity of members to avoid or resolve disputes, including education, mediation and arbitration. DRC has ability to impose sanctions and disciplinary actions towards members who do not conduct business in accordance with the terms of their membership agreement.

 

To date, DRC has resolved claims in excess of $105 million dollars. Although arbitration is available, 80% of these claims have been settled in an average of 26 days through our informal consultation/mediation services. Arbitration awards are court enforceable in countries that are signatories to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards or subsequent conventions.

 

To learn more, reach out to our Help Desk at [email protected] or (+1) 613-234-0982 or visit us at www.fvdrc.com.

Broker is the term often used by fruit and vegetable dealers to describe a person or entity that conducts a variety of commercial activities. A true broker’s (see definition below) DRC role is to facilitate good faith negotiations between parties which leads to a valid and binding contract.

 

After the broker has helped the buyer and the seller negotiate a valid and binding contract, the broker is expected to issue a written or electronic confirmation, normally known as a Confirmation of Sale. This confirmation must detail the identity of both seller and buyer as well as each of the contract terms that the buyer and seller have agreed to. A copy of the confirmation must be delivered to both the seller and buyer. It is important to recognize that, unless otherwise agreed, a broker does not guarantee the performance of either of the contracting parties.

 

Whenever a valid and binding contract is established and the proper confirmation or memorandum of sale is issued, the broker is entitled to prompt payment of the brokerage fees.

 

Brokerage fees may be charged to only one of the parties -the party who engaged the broker. However, what happens if the confirmation or memorandum of sale does not identify the party who engaged the broker to negotiate the transaction? In that case, the broker will be assumed to have been engaged by the buyer. Unless, by prior agreement, the parties have agreed to split the brokerage fee, the fee will be deemed to be payable in full by the buyer.

 

 

Note: A Broker is defined as any person engaged in the business of negotiating sales and purchases of produce for or on behalf of the vendor or purchaser, respectively. (Definitions 19.4, Operating Rules, Part 4, Trading Standards and Related Guidelines)

Welcome New Members

 

From September 15 until October 15, 2022, DRC welcomed the following new members:

 

A & P FRUIT GROWERS LTD.	BC	Canada
DRK IMPEX INC. (Also d/b/a DRK Impex)	ON	Canada
HOOVU CANADA INC.	AB	Canada
KAPI KAPI GROWERS INC.	FL	United States
PULPAAMERICA (Faisant également affaire sous 9338-4097 Québec Inc.)	QC	Canada
SICAR FARMS LTD. CO. (Also d/b/a Limex Sicar Ltd. Co.)	TX	United States

 

DRC Membership: change in status

 

As of October 15, 2022, the following organizations no longer hold a DRC membership:

 

B&M FRESH S.A. DE C.V. (También haciendo negocios como B&M Fresh Avocados)	Michoacan	Mexico
FRUTOS GUADALAJARA S. DE R.L. DE C.V.	Jalisco	Mexico
FUDI FOOD CORP. (Also d/b/a Thx! Dreams)	ON	Canada
TRUCKIT (A d/b/a of 10656330 Canada Inc.)	NS	Canada

 

 

For details regarding a change in status, please contact the office.

 

Important note: Following membership termination, the former member remains liable for claims arising prior to their termination if the claim is submitted to DRC by way of a Notice of Dispute within nine (9) months from when the claim arose or within nine (9) months from when the claimant ought reasonably to have known of its existence.

 

 

About DRC

DRC is a non-profit membership-based organization whose core work is business-to-business commercial dispute resolution for produce. DRC is a referee between parties when a purchase and sale do not go according to plan. Members adhere to a common set of trading standards and member responsibilities that promote fair and ethical trading for produce entering the North American marketplace. In Canada, membership in the DRC is a regulatory requirement to trade fresh fruits and vegetables (i.e.: buy, sell, import, export) unless excepted from the regulations. Today, DRC has members in 16 countries outside of North America, and membership continues to grow annually. Anyone exporting fresh fruits and vegetables to Canada must sell to a DRC member.

 

In addition to the DRC’s Operating Rules and Trading Standards, DRC offers a comprehensive, tailored suite of tools to build the knowledge and capacity of members to avoid or resolve disputes, including education, mediation and arbitration. DRC has ability to impose sanctions and disciplinary actions towards members who do not conduct business in accordance with the terms of their membership agreement.

 

To date, DRC has resolved claims in excess of $105 million dollars. Although arbitration is available, 80% of these claims have been settled in an average of 26 days through our informal consultation/mediation services. Arbitration awards are court enforceable in countries that are signatories to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards or subsequent conventions.

 

To learn more, reach out to our Help Desk at [email protected] or (+1) 613-234-0982 or visit us at www.fvdrc.com.

When engaging in a business deal in the produce industry, we understand that most of the time this is done over the phone, where important details of the transaction such as the terms of the contract (FOB, Delivered, CIF, Fixed price, consignment, P.A.S., etc.) and the product description (e.g., quality grade, no grade-Good Delivery/Good Arrival, size, quantity, etc.) are discussed.

Verbal communications are contractually binding if both parties agree on and understand the terms discussed. However, when there is a disagreement, or there is no meeting of the minds as to what was discussed verbally, the documents related to the transaction will determine the contract between the parties.

When the documents of the transaction are silent regarding one or more terms, each party has the burden of proof for their respective statements. That is why keeping written records of your communications is essential. This means making sure that for any items or issues discussed verbally during a transaction, a follow up email or text message is sent to confirm what was discussed.

DRC Good Arrival Guidelines indicate that in the absence of an agreement on the terms of the transaction, the transaction defaults to an FOB No Grade Good Arrival Guidelines contract.

The DRC Trading Standards and the DRC Transportation Standards act as default rules when parties cannot agree on the terms of the sale.

DRC representatives will be at Fruit Attraction in Madrid, Spain on October 4-6, 2022 and at The Global Produce & Floral Show in Orlando, Florida on October 27-29, 2022. This will be DRC’s fourth visit to Fruit Attraction and a comeback to what was formerly known as PMA’s Fresh Summit Convention.

 

With members located in 16 countries¹, DRC is gaining increasing recognition as a global solutions provider when it comes to private, commercial business-to-business dispute resolution and trading assistance for produce entering the North American market.

 

Expanding international outreach through events such as Fruit Attraction, and others, is a strategic initiative intended to expand membership and assist trading partners with a range of matters such as:

• quality and condition problems
• contracts of sale and issues related to breach of contract by either party
• transportation disputes
• slow pay, partial pay and no pay disputes

Ÿ trade terms (INCOTERMS vs North American Terms)

 

DRC’s Trading Assistance professionals have achieved a high level of dispute resolution expertise over the past 20 years and are also able to assist exporters with understanding and navigating various import requirements. A comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions guideline has been developed specifically for companies located outside of Canada and is available HERE.

 

Luc Mougeot, Kevin Smith, Jaime Bustamante, Dafne Palomino and Iryna Romanenko will be attending  the trade shows and if you or your trading partners would like to meet with either of them, please reach out to confirm your interest and schedule a time to meet.

 

 

¹ Source: DRC Membership statistics September 1, 2022

Bill C-280, the Financial Protection for Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Farmers Act, was introduced by Member of Parliament Scot Davidson in the House of Commons back in June. This important piece of legislation would establish a critical financial protection mechanism for fresh produce sellers in Canada in the case of buyer bankruptcy, which would also open the door for the United States to reinstate preferential access for Canadian sellers to protection under the U.S. Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA).

 

This Bill which would amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act to establish a deemed trust for fresh produce sellers, ensuring that they have priority access to an insolvent buyer’s assets related to the sale of fresh produce, will be up for debate in the House of Commons this fall. FVGC and CPMA have been busy preparing advocacy documents for all fresh produce industry members so that they are equipped to reach out to their Members of Parliament and urge them to support this important legislation. Visit the dedicated site: protectproducesales.ca to see how you can help!

Although a receiver/buyer decides whether to accept or reject a load that allegedly fails to comply with the sales agreement, buyers should be forewarned against accepting some portions of a shipment while rejecting others unless the parties agree otherwise specifically in writing.

The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) gives straightforward guidance and defines ‘Commercial Unit’ as “a single shipment of one or more perishable agricultural commodities for delivery on a single contract, such commercial unit must be accepted or rejected in its entirety”.

The items or commodities listed in a Bill of Lading are considered one commercial unit.

While PACA does not govern transactions outside of the US, it is referenced in the DRC rules as supportive.   We also note other choices of law such as the CISG have specific parameters regarding a buyers duties when non conforming goods are received.   In our experience partial rejections should only be done by agreement. 

When considering rejecting a load, the receiver/buyer must remember that the entire “commercial unit” must be rejected. Receivers/buyers may not unilaterally accept some pallets and reject others since accepting any portion of a lot constitutes acceptance of the entire lot.

It is possible to reject a portion of the load if a receiver/buyer has two transactions transported in one truck. In other words, where there are two contracts of sale or two Bills of Lading in the same truck, the items or commodities included in one of the Bills of Lading can be rejected provided an act of acceptance has not been committed and proper procedures to reject a load are followed.

Welcome New Members

 

From August 15 until September 15, 2022, DRC welcomed the following new members:

 

ALEXINGREDIENTS INC.	QC	Canada
AVOCAST S.P.R. DE R.L.	Nayarit	Mexico
F.A. INTERNATIONAL INC.	ON	Canada
FOROS FRESH PRODUCE CORP.	FL	United States
FRESH PRODUCE WHOLESALE (A d/b/a of 12038366 Canada Inc.)	ON	Canada
GD PRODUCE (A d/b/a of 2424871 Alberta Ltd.)	AB	Canada
GHARZAI GLOBAL IMPORT EXPORT INC.	ON	Canada
GLEN ECHO FRESH PRODUCE (A d/b/a of ASL Global Supply Chain Solutions Inc.)	ON	Canada
LIDL WHOLESALE LTD.	BC	Canada
PATATES DANIEL BLAIN LTÉE	QC	Canada
SICAR FARMS LTD. CO. (Also d/b/a Limex Sicar Ltd. Co.)	TX	United States
SUNNY SWEET IMPORTERS LTD.	BC	Canada
TAIBAH GROUP INC. (Also d/b/a Chakula Tamu)	ON	Canada
TEMAK INC. (Also d/b/a Temak Trading)	ON	Canada
TRIPLE K DISTRIBUTOR LTD.	SK	Canada

 

DRC Membership: change in status

 

As of September 15, 2022, the following organizations no longer hold a DRC membership:

 

CROWN ORCHARD COMPANY, LLC	VA	United States
HENNY PENNY’S FARM MARKET (A d/b/a of 3278669 Nova Scotia Limited)	NS	Canada
INTEGRADORA DE PRODUCTORES DEL VALLE DE APATZINGAN S.A.P.I.	Mlchoacan de Ocampo	Mexico
MECA – MARCHAND ETHNIQUE CANADIEN INC.	QC	Canada
MIRZA TRADING INTERNATIONAL (A d/b/a of 12218674 Canada Inc.)	ON	Canada
NAVEED AHMED	AB	Canada
PRODUCTORA AGRICOLA YAREXI SPR DE RL	Nayarit	Mexico
T.I.H. TRADING CORP.	ON	Canada

 

For details regarding a change in status, please contact the office.

 

Important note: Following membership termination, the former member remains liable for claims arising prior to their termination if the claim is submitted to DRC by way of a Notice of Dispute within nine (9) months from when the claim arose or within nine (9) months from when the claimant ought reasonably to have known of its existence.

 

About DRC

DRC is a non-profit membership-based organization whose core work is business-to-business commercial dispute resolution for produce. DRC is a referee between parties when a purchase and sale do not go according to plan. Members adhere to a common set of trading standards and member responsibilities that promote fair and ethical trading for produce entering the North American marketplace. In Canada, membership in the DRC is a regulatory requirement to trade fresh fruits and vegetables (i.e.: buy, sell, import, export) unless excepted from the regulations. Today, DRC has members in 16 countries outside of North America, and membership continues to grow annually. Anyone exporting fresh fruits and vegetables to Canada must sell to a DRC member.

 

In addition to the DRC’s Operating Rules and Trading Standards, DRC offers a comprehensive, tailored suite of tools to build the knowledge and capacity of members to avoid or resolve disputes, including education, mediation and arbitration. DRC has ability to impose sanctions and disciplinary actions towards members who do not conduct business in accordance with the terms of their membership agreement.

 

To date, DRC has resolved claims in excess of $105 million dollars. Although arbitration is available, 80% of these claims have been settled in an average of 26 days through our informal consultation/mediation services. Arbitration awards are court enforceable in countries that are signatories to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards or subsequent conventions.

 

To learn more, reach out to our Help Desk at [email protected] or (+1) 613-234-0982 or visit us at www.fvdrc.com.