Export document
Canadian import licence
Canada licenses food importers under its Safe Food for Canadians rules and requires them to hold a written preventive control plan. The licence is the control point rather than the consignment, and both obligations sit on the Canadian side before any Indonesian food arrives.
The essentials.
- The importer holds the licence
- Issued to the Canadian importer, and it is the mechanism the system runs on. No Indonesian document substitutes for it.1
- A written preventive control plan
- Documenting the hazards in what you import and how you control them, held current by the licence holder and examined rather than filed.1
- Traceability in both directions
- Records linking a consignment back to the supplier and forward to the customer, checked on inspection.1
- It exists before the first order
- Licensing and the plan are preconditions rather than paperwork collected around a shipment.1
Who asks for it.
Only these markets require it. Shipping the same goods anywhere else, the question does not arise.
What it does not cover.
It is not FSVP with a different name
Canada and the United States both put obligations on the importer and the systems are separate, with different licensing, different documents and different inspections. Preparing for one does not prepare you for the other.
It does not verify your supplier for you
The plan is your account of how you control hazards. Whether the Indonesian producer actually does what they say is something you still have to establish.
Questions buyers ask.
Can my customs broker hold the licence?
The licence belongs to the party importing the food, and using a broker does not move the obligation. Some businesses import under another company's licence by arrangement, which makes that company the responsible importer with everything that follows.
How detailed does the plan have to be?
Detailed enough to describe the hazards in what you actually import and how you control them, with the records to back it. It is examined by inspectors rather than filed away, so a generic document copied from a template is a weak position.
Where this comes up.
Indonesian coffee
Arabica and robusta origins, wet-hulling, how the national standard grades a lot, packing, and the documents a buyer needs including EUDR.
Indonesian cashew nuts
Indonesia mostly exports raw cashew nuts, not kernels. What outturn means, why it decides the price, and what to check if you want processed grades.
Indonesian vannamei shrimp
How farmed vannamei is counted, processed and shipped, and why the paperwork differs from wild-caught seafood: no catch certificate, but residues.
Indonesian coconut sugar
Coconut sugar and palm sugar are different products sold under overlapping names. What separates them, and the adulteration question that follows.
Indonesian pepper
Two named Indonesian origins, and the FAQ against ASTA distinction that decides what actually arrives in the bag. What a pepper contract has to name.
Export documents, by category
Four categories, four different sets of paperwork and almost no overlap. Built from the reference pages, so it cannot fall behind what is published.
Inspecting before it sails
The five moments worth inspecting, what a report has to contain, and the mistake that makes an inspection worthless.
Sources
- 1Safe Food for Canadians Regulations: licensing and preventive controls. Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Checked 3 August 2026.
Need this document for a real shipment?
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