NVWA
Also known as: Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority
The NVWA is the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. It inspects animals, plants and food on import, separately from Customs. A consignment can have been released by Customs and still be held by the NVWA.
What does the NVWA do on import?
The NVWA is the Dutch supervisor for food, feed, animals, plants and consumer products. On import from a third country it inspects consignments that fall under veterinary or phytosanitary rules, before they may enter the EU market. That is a different track from Customs. Customs deals with duties, VAT, origin and trade measures. The NVWA deals with the safety of the product. An IMA in DMS can have been accepted while the consignment is still waiting for an inspection. Notification in the Netherlands runs through CLIENT Import PD, the pre-notification or inspection declaration, and through TRACES-NT with a CHED. Without that notification the consignment may not pass the border control post, even if the customs declaration is in order. For planning, the NVWA is therefore the critical path, not Customs. An IMA that comes back in a minute still waits until the inspection is done. Put those two statuses in the same file, or the truck leaves on a half-green consignment.
How does pre-notification via CLIENT PD work?
CLIENT Import PD is the Dutch channel for inspection requests to the NVWA and the KCB. PD stands for plant health service. The pre-notification goes out before arrival, so the inspection service can schedule the consignment. The response is a code: code 1 means release without inspection, code 2 means inspection, documentary or physical. That release code must go into the import declaration. If it is missing, DMS rejects the declaration or the consignment stays under supervision. The connection to CLIENT PD is free of charge. Only inspections that are actually carried out are billed by the NVWA to the declarant. Those costs go to the declarant monthly, not per consignment in the system itself. Send the pre-notification with the rest of the chain, not as an afterthought. A consignment notified only at ATA lands at the bottom of the inspection list. For fresh product that is unloading a day later, with shelf life at stake.
How does the NVWA relate to TRACES and the CHED?
TRACES-NT is the European system in which you create a Common Health Entry Document, the CHED. For animals and products of animal origin that is CHED-P or CHED-D, for plants CHED-PP. The NVWA is the Dutch competent authority that handles that document. CLIENT PD and TRACES run side by side. The pre-notification to the NVWA is the national step, the CHED is the European one. A consignment of vegetables from Kenya needs both: the inspection declaration for planning, the CHED for the legal release. A physical inspection stops the automated chain. An inspector is scheduled by hand, inspects on site, and only when that release lands on their device does a message come back. That can last until the end of the day or the next day. Keep the CHED number on the same file as the MRN. Customs asks for the inspection status via the declaration, the NVWA via TRACES. If those two numbers drift apart, the consignment cannot be found in either system.
What is the difference between the NVWA and the KCB?
The NVWA deals with legal safety: animal health, plant health, residues, labelling that may pose a danger. The KCB, the Quality Control Bureau, deals with marketing standards and quality of mainly vegetables, fruit and ornamentals. In practice they sit next to each other on the same inspection site and use the same pre-notification channel. A consignment of peppers can get code 1 from the NVWA and code 2 from the KCB, or the other way around. Both codes must be in before the consignment may leave. For the declarant the distinction matters because the ground differs. An NVWA inspection touches market access. A KCB inspection touches the quality requirement. Planning, costs and waiting time do run through the same desk. Treat them as two authorities, not as one inspection. An NVWA release is not a KCB release. The truck may only leave once both codes are in, even if Customs finished long ago.
What happens when the inspection holds up Customs?
The goods stay under supervision until both Customs and the NVWA have released them. A container may not leave the terminal or the inspection site on an MRN alone. The inspection release code belongs in the declaration or as a separate status in the chain. For fresh product the waiting time is the risk. A physical inspection that lasts until the next day costs shelf life. That is why the pre-notification goes out before arrival, not only once the vessel is at the quay. A missed pre-notification is more expensive than an inspection. Without notification the consignment is not scheduled, and a late inspection on the day itself pushes everything back. Customs may already have released. The truck still may not drive. Plan the pre-notification on the ETA, not on the ATA. The NVWA plans on what you notify. A late notification shifts the inspection, and with it unloading, T1 discharge and gate-out. Customs has no shortcut for that.
What should you as declarant have ready for the NVWA?
The pre-notification asks for the goods code, the botanical or product name, the country of origin, the weight, the packing and the place where the consignment is available for inspection. For plants the phytosanitary certificate belongs with it, for products of animal origin the health certificate. Those documents must match the invoice and the packing list. A certificate on a different botanical name from the invoice is a standard reason for code 2. Correcting on the Dutch side is often impossible, because the source is an inspection body in the country of export. Keep the status in the same monitor as DMS and DVA. A consignment that is free in customs terms and still open veterinarily is not operationally free. The chain is only complete once both authorities are done. A missing certificate is not a DMS error. It is an NVWA block. You correct it with the shipper or with a new certificate, not by filing the IMA again with the same documents.