February 5, 2025, Canada –

Recent U.S. Changes and Guidance Documents with Impacts on Agriculture and Food

Dear industry stakeholders,

The Market Access Secretariat would like to highlight several actions that have recently been proposed or finalized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), Internal Revenue Service (IRS),  United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Alcohol and tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), during the last weeks of the Biden Administration. Full details for each of these rules can be found by clicking on their hyperlinked title.

The FDA has also published several draft and final guidance documents. Although you can comment on FDA guidance at any time, comments on draft guidance should be submitted before the comment closing date to ensure they are considered in the final version.

As highlighted under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) and under President Trump’s executive order entitled “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review“, Congress and the Administration have the ability to review, modify and/or nullify some of these actions or could choose to not proceed with the proposed actions. According to the Congressional Research Service, rules/guidance submitted to Congress on or after August 1, 2024, are likely subject to possible nullification (see report here).

We recommend that stakeholders do their due diligence vis-à-vis these actions, in the eventuality that they do move forward and are implemented. We also encourage you to participate in the rule making process if you have concerns with what is being proposed.

To submit comments on any of these proposed rules or guidance documents, please visit https://www.regulations.gov. Please let us know if you plan to submit comments.

Thank you,

Market Access Secretariat

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

E-mail Address : aafc.mas-sam.aac@agr.gc.ca

Government of Canada