Terms & Conditions for Exporters (including individuals and organisations)

As part of this service, you’ll need to nominate an official veterinarian (OV) or local authority inspector (collectively referred to as the “Certifying Officer”) to inspect your product and sign your certificate.

By using this service to complete the application(s) and registration for Export Health Certificate (EHC) you agree to:

• Only use this service for a legitimate and lawful purpose, associated with making an application for EHC.

• Complete the application with correct and accurate information, whether acting as an individual or on behalf of an organisation with the necessary authority to do so.

• Apply for the EHC only for the purposes of exporting and not for any speculative and/or illegitimate purpose.

• To nominate an independent official veterinarian (OV) or local authority inspector to inspect your product or animal and sign your certificate so there is no conflict of interest (see http://apha.defra.gov.uk/ External_OV_Instructions/Export_Instructions/Professional_Conduct/index.htm)

• Only use block applications for regular consignments to the same country or frequent consignments to any country. You should only apply for enough certificates to cover exports for a period of a month. APHA will monitor usage to ensure compliance.

• Follow the defined recall process for any unused applications or instructions in the event of a disease outbreak.

The certificate(s) will be provided (issued) on the basis of information available at the time and may not necessarily comply fully with the requirements of the importing country. It is the responsibility of the exporter to find out what the import requirements are in the destination country before seeking to obtain the appropriate export certification. The legal requirements for exports to the EU, and to non-European Union countries, are set by the authorities in the destination country, not by the UK. These depend on the consignment being exported and the destination country.

It is the exporter’s duty and responsibility to check the certificate complies with any relevant import permit or any advice provided by the competent authority in the importing country. If the certificate(s) do not comply, the exporter should contact the Competent Authority of the importing country to obtain new import conditions. Upon receipt of the new conditions, the exporter should forward these to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) for the EHC to be redrafted.

In the event that the conditions or requirements of a certificate are updated on this service after you have made an application and have been issued a certificate, you will receive reasonable notification and may be required to re-apply for the certificate; EHC’s are sometimes updated when export agreements are changed so make sure you are using the latest version of a certificate. The EHC form finder will normally have the latest version.

In the event of the Department becoming aware or have any reasonable grounds to suspect a disease (suspicion of disease in live animals which could be reported by farmer/owner of animals of their private vet, suspicion of disease in carcass reported by vet at slaughterhouse or non-negative laboratory results or confirmation of disease (disease is confirmed by the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO)) during the certification, it may necessary for the Department, in their sole discretion, to withdraw, revoke or cancel the health certificate immediately without notice. No liability for losses incurred can be accepted by the Department should these circumstances arise.

Where certificates for Certifying Officer signature are sent to the premises of despatch I undertake to ensure that the certificate will be held securely and delivered unopened to that Certifying Officer. In these circumstances, the exporter must seek written agreement from the Certifying Officer to receive an EHC on their behalf and must deliver the envelopes containing the EHC to the Certifying Officer unopened. The exporter would provide APHA with a written declaration stating this.

The information contained within this service may be disclosed to any other competent veterinary authorities, used in the compilation of statistics or for the purposes of Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information requests, general statistical data requests within Defra, performance reporting within APHA/Defra, quarterly reporting to the Devolved Administrations (Scottish Government and Welsh Government).

For exports to the EU or that will transit through the EU, exporters should ensure their consignment complies with the current requirements for UK trade with the EU.

Terms & Conditions for Certifying Officers

By using this service to complete the application(s) and registration for Export Health Certificate, you agree that you are:

• Authorised and eligible as a certifying officer;

• Complying with the quality and health standards of the destination country, when making the certification;

• Completing accurate and valid certification, after fully considering independently all the relevant circumstances, documents and requirements necessary for ‘legal’ certification;

• Undertaking all of the necessary inspections/checks required to corroborate/verify that the requirements of the certificate have been met;

• After registration allow APHA to make reasonable manual background checks to verify your ability and qualifications to certify EHC;

• If you are an Official Veterinarian (OV) that you are a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS- responsible for monitoring the educational, ethical and clinical standards of the veterinary profession) to be able to practice in the GB and you may be requested to provide confirmation of this to the Department;

• A holder of a valid and relevant Official Controls Qualification (Veterinarian) (OCQ(V)) entitlement, demonstrating their authorisation and competence to undertake the specific OV activities; whilst complying with any audit requirements;

• Trained and approved for OCQ(V)) on behalf of AHPA by a company called Improve International, or hold an ‘accredited qualification achieved following training and assessment by a government approved training provider in a particular veterinary discipline.’

• If you are an Official Veterinarian (OV), the Certifying Officer cannot certify any EHC / Defra document or carry out any Defra work until they have received their authorisation letter and the OV official stamp is issued with a unique identifier number;

• An OV authorisation is not a guarantee or representation by the Agency of the amount and nature of the work required to be performed as an OV.

• Certifiers will be held personally and professionally responsible for all official tasks carried out by them and must personally sign all certificates and notices required and relating to those duties.

• Certifiers maintain responsibility for the security of all information obtained in the course of the execution of their duties whether documentary, oral or pictorial, digital or printed. All such data is considered personal and commercially sensitive data and may not be disclosed unless authorised under applicable sections of the General Data Protection Regulations 2018 (“GDPR”). The unlawful disclosure of protected data shall be grounds for suspension or revocation of Authorisation.

• Certifiers must not enter into any position whereby, in the reasonable opinion of APHA, there is or may be an actual conflict, or a potential conflict of interest, between the financial or personal interests of the certifier and any person or business that the certifier engages with in respect of the required duties carried out on behalf of APHA.

• Whilst OVs are carrying out their duties an assessment of proficiency and procedure must be carried out on the practice and the individual OVs working in the practice. OV practices will be assessed by APHA Veterinary Staff as resources allow. Practices which are deficient will be targeted to improve. In the absence of a willingness to improve, consideration should be given to the withdrawal of OV status from individuals in the practice following discussions with Agency’s Veterinary Director.

Revocation of Authorisation

The authorisation of a certifier may be revoked for a number of reasons. These include, but not limited to, where the certifier:

• is no longer a Member or Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS/FRCVS) for whatever reason (including suspension or removal from the RCVS register for disciplinary reasons, or for failure to pay fees)

• is convicted of a criminal offence that renders them unfit to be a certifier

• no longer holds a valid certificate with respect to the OCQ(V) training

• voluntarily requests their authorisation be revoked, giving one week’s notice in writing to the Agency; or

is subject to the final decision of a review panel or appeal outcome of any investigation

Suspension of Authorisation

The Authorisation of a certifier will be suspended if considered necessary for the following reasons:

• there is evidence to suggest that the certifier is not competent or is not performing their task(s) to the required standards

• the certifier infringes or fails to comply with the conditions of authorisation

• the certifier is guilty of conduct which makes suspension or termination of the Authorisation desirable in the Agency’s interest or in the public interest

• OVs must abide by the standards in the RCVS Code of Professional Conduct which sets out Veterinary Surgeons’ professional responsibilities. They must pay particular attention to the guidance on certification which underpins OV activities and reflects EU legislative requirements

Also, all EHC applicants agree NOT to use this service for:

• Attempting to gain unauthorised access to this service , including the server on which it is stored or any server, computer or database connected to this website for yourself or for another user

• Misuse this service, or any other Defra service, for any fraud, illegality or misrepresentation

• knowingly invite or verify a user who does not have the authority to act on your behalf or on the behalf of the organisation for which you represent

• use Your Defra account to provide access to users to services that they do not have the authority to access

• be a party to sending any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam)

• carry out any activities in relation to "screen scraping" or database scraping to obtain lists of users, URLs, internet keywords or other information

• access this site by any means other than the interface that is provided by Defra

• infringe the rights of other authorised users

• restrict or inhibit the use of this service by any authorised third party or entity

• reproduce, duplicate, copy or resell any part of our site/service in contravention of the provisions of our terms and conditions of this website

Help and Guidance

There are a number of Government and industry organisations that can provide further assistance for businesses wishing to export, which include:

Department for International Trade (DIT) has a remit to work with UK businesses to support them in maximising opportunities in international markets. They have a number of staff based both regionally across the UK and in countries around the world. They are therefore uniquely placed to provide insight into opportunities and obstacles to export. Further information is available on their website:

• at About DIT and details of their local offices are provided at DIT Office finder

• The ‘Open to Exports’ website is a useful additional initial point of reference when looking to export to new markets. You can post questions and find information at: http://opentoexport.com/.

• The Foreign and Commonwealth Office list of foreign embassies: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/

• UK Export Certification Partnership (UKECP): http://www.ukecp.com/

• Food and Drink Exporters Association: http://www.ukfdea.com/

• Food and Drink Federation: http://www.fdf.org.uk/

• Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association: http://nifda.co.uk/