The wait for new Hass avocados from Mexico will continue for now because a shipment of 23,000 kilos that is on the border with Nicaragua can't enter Costa Rica.
The decision was communicated at about 7 pm on Monday, May 7, by the interim director of the State Phytosanitary Service (SFE), Leda Madrigal, based on a communication they received from the General Directorate of Plant Health, attached to the National Service of Sanitation, Food Safety and Quality of Food (Senasica), from Mexico.
The note signed by Francisco Javier Trujillo Arriaga, general director of Plant Health, discredited the certificate accompanying the shipment of Hass avocado that was waiting at the northern border to enter Costa Rica.
"The document with folio number 2484576 is invalid, since it was issued by a person that hasn't been authorized by Senasica for that purpose," Trujillo said in the document sent to the SFE on Monday afternoon.
According to that statement, the signatory of the certificate, Mr. Lopez Silva, has no power to sign phytosanitary certificates since November 22, 2016.
In view of the above, Costa Rica will proceed on Tuesday, May 8, to carry out the procedures to return the cargo of fruit. In these cases, as is customary in international trade, the importer must assume all costs.
Costa Rica eased requirements to import Hass avocado from Mexico
The measures came into effect last February and allow three possibilities to bring Hass avocado from the nations that were hit by the 2015 restriction.
The first way is to send the fruit with a certificate guaranteeing that it has no sunspot. The second option is to include a certificate that states that the fruit comes from areas free of that disease and, the third option would be to comply with rules agreed by both countries bilaterally.
The import that was going to break three years of absence of the Mexican fruit in Costa Rica was, supposedly, backed by the first of those options: an official certificate stating the cargo had no sunspot. However, on Monday the Senasica disavowed that document, which was presented on Wednesday of last week by the importer.
Madrigal stated on Monday afternoon that Costa Rica had followed due process, in accordance with the law. First, it reviewed the certificate, which seemed original, corroborated the certifier's qualities and then continued with the sampling for laboratory tests.
However, as a result of the Mexican refusal, the fruit came without any certificate, said the SFE, therefore, the rest of the process was suspended and, even if the shipment passed the laboratory tests, it can't enter the country.
In the official communiqué, Mexico warns that, based on WTO regulations, destination nations should not accept certificates that are confirmed as invalid. Therefore, in this specific case, the entry of the fruit that is on the northern border must be rejected.
Source: nacion.com