By John Dawes

The European Union has published its promised Guidance Document aiming to clarify remaining doubts and questions regarding the EU Health Certificates that took effect on July 1.

All coldwater fish destined for the UK must be accompanied by the “open” model of the health certificate, but not necessarily if their final destination is another Member State…or if it is outside Europe. Credit: John Dawes

One such complication applies to the question of open and closed facilities. Instead of providing definitions for these terms, the document directs the reader to particular sections of the relevant EU Regulation (i.e. Art. 2 of Regulation (EC) No. 1251/2008.) On checking the text of Article 2 in the Regulation (accessible by keying these details into an Internet search engine), the definitions can be consulted:

“For the purpose of this Regulation, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘closed ornamental facilities’ means pet shops, garden centres, garden ponds, commercial aquaria or wholesalers keeping ornamental aquatic animals:

(i) without any direct contact with natural waters in the Community: or
(ii) which are equipped with an efficient treatment system reducing the risk of transmitting diseases to the natural waters to an aceptable level

(b) ‘open ornamental facility’ means ornamental facilities other than closed ornamental facilities”

Since each type of facility requires a separate certificate (Model IVA for open and IVB for closed), exporters and importers must know the difference between the two. Failure to use the appropriate certificate model will undoubtedly lead to problems at the point of entry.

However, there is no pan-European agreement as to what actually constitutes an open or closed facility, as each importing EU Member State is able to interpret these terms differently. For example, coldwater fish facilities in the United Kingdom are considered to be open. In other countries, though, the classification depends on the nature of the facility itself—presumably as accepted by the relevant competent authority.

The language in which the Certificates must be issued must also be clarified in advance, not just for shipments destined for the EU but also for those whose destinations are outside the EU but use the EU as a transit point. In such cases, the language of the Certificate must be that required by the first country of entry into Europe.

It would seem fair to say that, while the Guidance Document clarifies many outstanding issues, it will probably take a few months for the new legislation to smooth out remaining ambiguities and doubts. <HOME>