Tracking Membership Changes

Q. We are a USA distributor who exports to Canada and we are DRC members. For the past three years we have worked with a few Canadian customers without any real problems that we were not able to resolve among ourselves. Recently, we were unable to resolve a dispute with one of them and we advised them that we were taking the dispute to DRC. Their response was that their company has not been a member of the DRC for more than 6 months. Additionally, they didn’t want the DRC to get involved. We are disappointed and frustrated with their response. Do we still have recourse through DRC and what would you recommend we do to keep ourselves updated regarding changes in a membership status?

A. To answer your first question, if your client resigned their membership or if it was terminated, as long as the transaction happened when they were still members, you still have recourse through DRC. All former DRC members who are terminated or expelled are still liable for any dispute over a transaction that occurred when they were still members. If the transaction occurred after their membership was terminated, we may not be able to get directly involved but, your client should be reported to DRC and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for importing product without a valid DRC membership. This could lead to serious enforcement actions to your client by the CFIA.

To answer your second question, you should establish a procedure to verify the “Active Members” list located at www.fvdrc.com on a regular basis.  The DRC updates the “Active Members” list on a weekly basis. If you don’t find the company you are looking for on the “Active Members” list, that should raise a flag.  Make sure your sales staff and credit managers have access to the DRC website. You can also call us to verify who is and who is not a member and track the changes published in DRC Solutions Blog.

DRC Trading Standards – Section 15 – 18

Continuing with our efforts to summarize DRC’s Trading Standards and make these standards more understandable for our members, in this issue, we address the following sections:

Section 15. Conversion of Funds

While the title of this section may be confusing, this section clarifies the requirements for prompt and accurate passing of funds directly from buyer to seller, or from buyer to broker/seller to shipper, or any other person having a financial interest. In other words, intermediaries (brokers, grower’s agents, consignees, etc.) cannot hold payment of funds that do not belong to them without reasonable cause.

Section 16. Grade and Condition Standards for Commodities

Regarding the grade and condition of product, the parties may agree to any specific standards prior to shipments if such standards comply with any applicable minimum grade and condition standards that have been established by the importing or exporting country.  In addition, the parties may establish their own average percentage of defects for all commodities if it is agreed upon. In the absence of an agreement on grade or average percentage of defects, no grade will be assumed, but the calculation of conformance to the contract will default to the DRC’s Good Arrival Guidelines.

Section 17. Inspection Policy

Members need to know that unless there is an agreement for an in-house quality report or to request a private survey, a government inspection is the only inspection considered prima facie evidence and therefore carries more weight than any other survey report.  Private surveys or in-house inspections need to comply with the standards and elements indicated in DRC’s Inspection Policy. For complete information about DRC’s Inspection Policy, visit our website.

Section 18. Membership Declaration

All members must declare their membership number when requested to do so by any Canadian, United States of America or Mexican government department or agency. It is specifically important for Canadian importers and Non-Resident importers to declare their DRC membership number to Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to be able to let the product into Canada.

CFIA Safe Food for Canadian Regulations phase in continues

Although the Safe Food for Canadians Regulations (SFCR) came into force on January 15, 2019, certain requirements were being phased in over the following 12 to 30 months. Effective January 15, 2020, all SFCR requirements will apply to the fresh fruit and vegetable sector.

CFIA continues to provide information to the sector and will be posting two pre-recorded webinars to their website, one in French and one in English. The presentations will be available in late October 2019. In addition to this, in November the CFIA plans to hold four Q&A WebEx sessions (2 in French and 2 in English). Since the webinar presentation will be posted on CFIA’s website, these Q&A sessions will focus on responding to questions that may arise from the FFV sector community.

This will be a good opportunity to pose questions and request clarification on matters directly related to fresh fruit and vegetables. DRC will circulate additional information as it becomes available.

Membership Updates – August 2019

Welcome New Members

In August, DRC welcomed the following new members:

  • H. Wood Farms (Prince Edward Island, Canada)
  • Unearthed Produce (Prince Edward Island, Canada)
  • Green Earth Organics (Ontario, Canada)
  • DG Alimentation ((Québec, Canada)
  • Aguacates JR S.A De C.V (Michoacan. Mexico)
  • Citrus Plus (California, USA)
  • Giumarra International Berry LLC (California, USA)
  • Schmieding Produce (Arizona, USA)

Automatic Terminations

On August 19, 2019, Northern Specialty Potato was expelled from DRC for failing to communicate, which is a violation of section 3.03 of the DRC by-laws. At the time of expulsion, Jeremy Rood was the only responsibly connected party to this organization.

DRC Membership: change in status

As of August 31, the following organizations no longer hold a DRC membership:

  • Bell City Transport Systems (2012) Inc. (Ontario, Canada)
  • Open & Close Food Services (Alberta, 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 14 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 $83 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.

Verified by MonsterInsights