Phytosanitary certificate
Also known as: phyto, phytosanitary certificate
A phytosanitary certificate is the statement of the plant protection service of the exporting country that a consignment of plants or plant products is free of quarantine organisms. The original travels with the goods and has to match the CHED-PP literally.
When do you need a phytosanitary certificate?
On import into the Union of plants, plant products and other objects that fall under the plant health regulation. That follows from the goods code and from the measure in TARIC or the DTV: a mandatory phytosanitary certificate, often combined with an inspection at the border control post. Cut flowers, plant material, certain wood, seeds, vegetables and fruit from third countries regularly fall under it. A box of screws does not. The certificate is an export document of the third country, not an EU form. The national plant protection organisation (NPPO) of the exporting country issues it, to the IPPC model. Without that document the consignment may not enter the Union, however complete the invoice and the import declaration are. Inside the Union the plant passport replaces this certificate. A consignment of vegetables from Spain to the Netherlands does not need a phytosanitary certificate, it does, if the species falls under it, need a plant passport. Anyone who looks for a phyto on an intra-EU consignment is looking for the wrong document.
What has to be on the certificate, and who signs it?
The certificate identifies the exporter, the consignee, the botanical or product type, the quantity, the distinguishing marks, the place of origin, the means of transport and the statement that the consignment is free of the quarantine organisms the Union applies for that product. Additional declarations are often mandatory per product-country combination. A general 'free of diseases' is then not enough. Signature and stamp sit with a competent official of the NPPO, not with the exporter and not with the forwarder. A sheet the supplier has drawn up themselves, or a scan without a stamp, is not a certificate. Digital phytos via ePhyto are allowed if the exporting country supplies that way and the Union accepts that form for that country. Validity is limited. A certificate issued weeks before departure, or that describes a different container from the one that arrives, is worthless at the border. Check the date, the seal and the quantity at intake, not on the quay.
How does the certificate have to match the CHED-PP?
The CHED-PP in TRACES-NT is the notification of this consignment at the EU border. The fields for certificate number, botanical name or product, number of packages, net weight, container and seal have to follow the certificate, not the invoice if that diverges. The inspector lays the two documents side by side. A few kilos of difference or a different seal number is a question, and a question is a day. The additional declarations also have to match what the Union requires for that combination of product and origin. A missing statement is not sloppiness in the text. It is a consignment that does not meet the import condition, and it can be refused even if the certificate is otherwise genuine. Do not copy from the packing list because that happens to be in Dutch. Copy, or extract, from the certificate, and then compare with packing list, invoice and bill of lading. Where those four diverge, the certificate is leading for the inspection and the invoice is leading for the customs value. Both have to be traceable to the same consignment.
What is the difference from the plant passport?
The phytosanitary certificate is the document for entry from a third country. The plant passport is the document for movement inside the Union, issued by an authorised operator, not by an NPPO of a third country. After import, once the consignment has been released, the plant passport can take over the internal chain. At the border itself the passport does not play. Confusion arises with goods that run via the UK or via another third-country route. A lot that has left the Union and comes back is import again, and then a phytosanitary certificate is needed again, even if the lot internally had a plant passport. The passport does not survive exit from the Union as import evidence. Keep the two documents apart in the file, with two names. Anyone who says 'the phyto' to a plant passport looks in TRACES-NT for a certificate number that does not belong there, and misses the CHED-PP.
How does the certificate hang on CLIENT PD, KCB and the NVWA?
In the Netherlands you often first notify plant inspection-liable consignments through CLIENT PD, the Dutch pre-notification system of NVWA and KCB. The response is a code: free or inspection. In addition, if the Union rules ask for a CHED-PP, you notify the same consignment in TRACES-NT. Two counters, one certificate. The KCB carries out the phytosanitary import inspections and also checks the marketing standards for fruit and vegetables. The NVWA remains the competent authority. For you as declarant that means: feed the certificate into the pre-notification and into the CHED-PP, and do not confuse the KCB's inspection plans with the NVWA's veterinary planning. A consignment that gets code 1 (free) in CLIENT PD can in TRACES-NT still need a sign-off before the import declaration closes. Read both responses. One green code is not a departure if the other is still open.
What if the certificate is missing, expired or does not match?
Without a valid certificate there is no admission. The consignment is refused, sent back or destroyed, at the expense of the interested party. A certificate that is still 'on the way' after arrival is not a certificate. The inspection does not plan on a promise. A certificate with the wrong quantity, the wrong seal or a missing additional declaration is treated as a consignment that does not meet the conditions. Sometimes the exporting country can send a corrected certificate afterwards. Sometimes not, and then the lot is lost. You only know that difference after discussion with the NPPO and with the NVWA or the KCB, not after an assumption of the supplier. Stop the consignment administratively at intake if the document is missing or unreadable. Filing a CHED-PP on a number you have not seen is signing for a document that is not there. That is more expensive than waiting a day for a readable scan, and much more expensive than leaving the lot at the terminal until the original is there.