TRACES
Also known as: TRACES-NT
TRACES-NT is the EU system in which you notify consignments of animals, products of animal origin, plants and certain foods before they enter the Union. In the Netherlands the NVWA is the competent authority behind that counter.
What is TRACES-NT, and what is it not?
TRACES-NT, Trade Control and Expert System New Technology, is the European system for the notification and handling of inspection-liable consignments at the external border. You complete part I of the CHED in it, the NVWA or another competent authority signs off part II, and without that sign-off the consignment does not enter the Union. The system belongs to the European Commission. The national inspection service works in it, but it is not a Dutch customs system. TRACES is not DMS, not DECO and not CLIENT PD. DMS does the fiscal declaration. DECO does the e-commerce flow. CLIENT PD is the Dutch counter for the plant pre-notification to NVWA and KCB, with its own response code. A plant consignment can therefore need both a CLIENT PD pre-notification and a CHED-PP in TRACES-NT. Anyone who only knows TRACES misses the Dutch plant side, and the other way round. The United Kingdom uses IPAFFS, not TRACES-NT. A file that runs from Rotterdam to Felixstowe switches system. Translating TRACES into IPAFFS as 'the same thing' produces a notification in the wrong counter.
What has to be in TRACES-NT before the consignment arrives?
Part I of the CHED: the declarant, the exporter, the consignee, the border control post of entry, the means of transport, the container number, the seal number, the goods code, the number of packages, the net weight and the number of the certificate travelling with the goods. Those fields have to match the health certificate or the phytosanitary certificate, not whatever happens to stand on the invoice if that diverges. The deadline is as a rule at the latest one working day before arrival at the border control post. You notify against the ETA, not against the moment the paperwork happens to be complete. A late notification moves the consignment to the next inspection slot. On fresh product shelf life then runs on while the container sits at the terminal. A missed notification does not cost a TRACES penalty. It costs demurrage, power for the reefer and a delivery appointment at the retailer that does not move with it. That is why the notification belongs in the planning, not in the tail of the file.
Who works in it, and with which role?
The operator or their authorised representative completes part I. The competent authority of the Member State of entry completes part II, with the outcome of the documentary check, the identity check and, if it takes place, the physical check. Part III covers onward transport to the place of destination. Without part II there is no release, however green the customs declaration is. In the Netherlands the NVWA is the competent authority for the veterinary line and for food under increased control. The KCB carries out the phytosanitary import inspections, under the responsibility of the NVWA, with its own planning. For a declarant those are two counters on one container, especially on a mixed load. Access to TRACES-NT runs through an EU login and a role that the national authority grants. Without that role you cannot file a CHED, even if your EORI and your customs power of attorney otherwise match. Arrange the access before the first inspection-liable consignment arrives, not on the morning of the ETA.
How does TRACES hang on the import declaration in DMS?
Customs release and inspection release are two decisions, in two systems. The import declaration in DMS carries the document code of the CHED with the reference number, in the form CHEDP.NL.2026.0000000 or the equivalent for A, D or PP. If that number is wrong, or the CHED has not yet been signed off, the declaration does not connect to the inspection. The other way round, DMS may have accepted the declaration while the NVWA still holds the consignment. Then the container may not leave the terminal. For the planner that means: look at both statuses. One green light is not a departure. The order is fixed. First notify the CHED in TRACES-NT, then file the import declaration with that reference number. Anyone who files the declaration first and updates the CHED later builds a file that Customs cannot link, or a declaration that is refused because the document is missing.
What goes wrong when the certificate is copied across?
Certificates arrive as a scan or a pdf, in the language of the exporting country, in a layout that differs per country. The CHED in TRACES-NT is a fixed form. Between them sits retyping, or an extraction that you then still have to check. The approval number of the establishment, the certificate number, the species, the number of packages, the net weight and the container and seal numbers are laid side by side by the inspector. A difference of a few kilos between certificate and notification is enough for a question, and a question is a missed inspection slot. A wrong approval number is worse: the establishment is then not on the list, or it is a different establishment from the one on the paper, and the consignment can be refused. The protection is the same as on a customs file: every field back to the spot on the certificate, and a comparison with invoice, packing list and bill of lading before part I goes out. What you put in TRACES is a statement. Guessing at an unreadable seal number is signing for a figure you have not seen.
Can you still change a CHED in TRACES-NT after filing?
Part I can be adjusted as long as the authority has not yet handled the CHED. A container number that changes at the last moment, an ETA that slips a day, a seal that has been replaced: that belongs in TRACES at once, not in a mail to the inspector while the form still carries the old number. After sign-off of part II, changing is no longer a correction but a discussion with the border control post. A signed-off CHED with the wrong container number is a consignment that administratively sits somewhere other than physically. The terminal does not solve that, and Customs neither. So report a change in the ETA as soon as you know it, even if the CHED has already been filed and not yet been seen. The inspection plans on that time. A container that arrives a day later without an updated notification sits in yesterday's planning, and that has gone.