Certification process
Background:
Veterinary Certification is governed by the 10 principles of certification developed and provided by the RCVS.
Defra is the central competent authority for international trade; Defra negotiates the required conditions to export live animals and/or POAO with the relevant Country(ies). Once these conditions are agreed between both countries (Importing and Exporting) the exporting Country needs to certify that products comply with the specific requirements previously agreed. This is delivered by completing the Export Health Certificate (EHC).
Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has developed over 1,500 EHCs depending on the commodity and the country to export. APHA has also provided a EHC form finder to find the required EHC for your export.
Certification steps:
There are several steps to ensure the Export Veterinary Certification of your live animals and/or POAO is completed successfully:
Step 1- ENROLL:
The majority of EHC can be applied for by using the Export Health certificate Online (EHCO), which is compulsory for applications and certification of the relevant EHCs on this system. Therefore, each exporter company needs to be enrolled on to use EHCO by creating a Government Gateway as exporter. Veterinary Export Certification Ltd. is also enrolled on EHCO as certifier. To enroll, please use the following link “Register on EHCO” and follow the instructions.
Step 2- APPLY:
As exporter you need to ensure the products/commodity you want to export is permitted to be exported to the country of destination. You can use the EHC form finder to search for the correct EHC. Please make sure you choose the correct EHC to complete the application on EHCO. If in doubt, please contact us for guidance.
Once you have identified the correct EHC, you need to apply for it using EHCO, if this is one of the EHC available on this system. You would need to complete a series of questions related to the products, destination, etc. During your application, please select Export Veterinary Certification Ltd. as your certifier (“about your certifier” section) to ensure we get the required documents to certify your export needs. The application is added to our dashboard and it would show its status as:
Processing: (APHA staff are working on it);
Dispatched: (EHC has been sent to Export Veterinary Certification Ltd.) or
Completed: (Export Veterinary certification Ltd. has confirmed the EHC has been signed)
Some EHCs are not available on the EHCO, yet. If you need to apply to one of those EHCs, please download and complete an EXA application form (PDF) and submit these to the APHA Centre of International Trade, Carlisle by email. You will need to submit a separate email for each application.
EHCs printed on beige watermarked paper will still need to be posted to the OV unless it is permitted to be on white paper which the OV can download from their portal.
Step 3- CERTIFICATION:
This step has not changed much from previous times. Our qualified OV will attend exporting site to inspect the goods and documentation to ensure compliance with relevant legal and export requirements and, obtain the required assurances for the export to be successful.
Once these checks have been done and assurances obtained, the OV will complete the EHC, sign and stamp it accordantly to certify the export for your product(s) to be exported. The original EHC will be given to you for export purposes, while certifying copies of the same will be filed with APHA and retained for security and control purposes. The EHC will be stated as “completed” on EHCO system/portal, if applicable.
Some Countries require pre-certification, manufacturers declarations and/or imports permits. These requirements would be explained on the Note for Guidance and they need to be complied with in order to successfully exports your goods. Our team of OVs will be able to guide you on these requirements
In the event of missing documentation, etc. our qualified OVs will be able to provide advice on how to obtain such documents and assurances so, the export can be certified, and goods can be exported