USDA : APHIS : VS International Animal Product Export Regulations

ANIMAL PRODUCTS TO THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY

Member states of the European Community (EU):

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Additional files for individual countries may also be available, if the EU does not have a harmonized certificate available, or if the country has a different set of requirements.

NOTE: With the exception of the United Kingdom and Ireland, the Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) is endorsing both the animal health and public health parts of the EU Certificates for dairy products for human consumption. For the United Kingdom and Ireland, the exporter should first take the certificate to AMS for endorsement of the public health statements, and then take the certificate to Veterinary Services (VS) for endorsement of the animal health portion of the certificate.

Even though they are not members of the EU, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland are using the EU import requirements for dairy products for human consumption.

EXPORT CERTIFICATES MUST BE ENDORSED PRIOR TO SHIPMENT. The EU has reiterated export certificates must be issued prior to the date of export. Exporters should be advised that VS will not pre-date export certificates, and they must get their certificates prior to export.

**SEE BELOW FOR INFORMATION ON REGULATION (EC) NO 1774/2002 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL OF 3 OCTOBER 2002.

Non-Regulation (EC)1774/2002 Certificates: The following certificates do not require the facility to be approved by APHIS as compliant with the European Union Regulation (EC) 1774/2002. (Other requirements including inspection may apply. Please contact your APHIS Area Office for details on how to obtain these certificates.)

*REGULATION (EC) No 1774/2002 OF THE EUROPEAN UNION PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL OF 3 OCTOBER 2002 laying down health rules concerning animal by-products not intended for human consumption

The below export certificates represent the current understanding of Veterinary Services (VS) of the certificates which are required by the European Community for materials shipped after the implementation of Regulation (EC) No. 1774/2002. The certificates are subject to change. As always, it is the responsibility of the exporter to confirm prior to shipment that they have the proper certificate endorsed and accompanying the shipment.

The European Community will NOT accept certificates endorsed after product has shipped.

VS offices will only endorse the following certificates after facilities have been officially approved as compliant with EC Reg 1774/2002 for exporting the certified commodity to the European Community.

Exporters should contact the VS Area office serving their State for information on how to obtain these approvals. Area office contact information is available at:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/area_offices.htm

• The original certificate must accompany the shipment.
• The color of the signature on the certificate must be different than that of the printing.  The same rule applies to stamps other than those embossed.
• No VS Form 16-4 should be issued when one of the below certificates are issued.
• If the certificate is only two pages long, then the certificate must be printed one page front and back.
• If a certificate is more than one sheet (more than two printed pages):
  1. The signature appear on each page; AND
  2. The pages must be numbered at the bottom of each page as "(page number) of (total number of pages); AND
  3. The certificate number must be at the top of each page.

The EU requires all import certificates to be in the official language of the port of entry into the EU. For APHIS to endorse these certificates, they must be bilingual in both English and the official language of the EU port of entry. In cases were APHIS has bilingual versions of these certificates available, they will be found under the information available on this web site for the specific pertinent EU country. In other cases, the export has the responsibility of preparing the bilingual certificates. Certificates must be prepared with the English portion and the other language side by side. This must be done either sentence by sentence or paragraph by paragraph.

For example:

• English sentence or paragraph
• Spanish sentence or paragraph
• English sentence or paragraph
• Spanish sentence or paragraph

In cases where the port of entry into the EU is located in a country where English is an official language, certificates may be prepared in only English.

Regulation (EC) 1774/2002 Certificates: The following certificates require the facility to be approved under the European Union Regulation (EC) 1774/2002. (Please contact your APHIS Area Office for details on how to obtain this required approval and these certificates.

Specified Risk Material (SRM) Certification: The European Union requires SRM Certification to be included as the last page of certificates for most animal by-products derived from bovine, ovine and caprine animals. The requirement may vary between countries. The standard SRM Certification is included in the table below. Exporters should confirm prior to shipment that this certificate complise with the importing countries requirements. Some countries may have additional requirements.