Export Certificates
Follow this link for an Export Certificate Form.
If you are exporting outside the EU you may need a Health Certificate to confirm that your food or drink has been produced in a hygienic manner, is freely available in the EU market and complies with all relevant legislative requirements.
Environmental Health, as the authorised food authority, can provide Worcestershire based exporters with advice and certificates. WRS charge £100.00 + VAT to issue a Health Certificate. You may be asked to provide supporting documents, eg. HACCP, sampling results, allergen information.
A separate certificate will be required for each individual consignment. In some cases WRS may wish to carry out an inspection of the goods being exported. If additional work is required to validate a certificate, an extra fee may be requested based on £62.50 per hour (all fees reviewed annually). The normal turnaround time for a certificate is 5 working days. Please indicate on the request if there is a shorter deadline and we will try to meet it. There will be an additional charge of £15 for an expedited service.
Requests
Should be sent to enquiries@worcsregservices.gov.uk , please do not send to an individual officer.
Each request should include the following information:
- Name of the product
- Ingredients list
- Production date
- Batch/lot number
- Durability date
- Name and address of Exporter
- Name and address of Importer
- Statement that the product is freely available on the EU market
- Address to which copy of certificate is to be sent
- Whether expedited service required (< 5 days)
If your customers have more specific requirements eg. concerning GM free status, specific micro biological issues etc please contact us for advice.
Each certificate will be signed by an authorised Environmental Health Practitioner and will be valid for 12 months for the specified product. A scanned copy will be sent by email with the original copy sent by first class post.
Further information:
Please note for many products of animal origin being exported to some countries, you may need a Veterinary Certificate from DEFRA. We will advise you if this is the case.
As the signatory to certificates WRS must be confident that our knowledge of your premises, food safety processes, ingredients and labelling is up to date and relevant to export activities. From 1 April 2019 certificates will only be issued to businesses which have received an annual export inspection. The inspection will be conducted by officers from Environmental Health and Worcestershire County Council Trading Standards to enable us to be confident that the assurances we are providing are accurate and up to date. The cost of this joint inspection is £375+VAT. The date of the inspection will be arranged by mutual consent. Officers from the two disciplines could visit together or separately – whichever works best for your operation.
Department of International Trade
WRS also liaises with The Department for International Trade (DIT). There is a team of International Trade Advisers based at your local Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce who can help businesses of all sizes with any aspect of international trade. So if you are at the start of your export journey, or looking for new markets the team are there to assist you. As a government department all help is free and you will be able to access a wealth of knowledge by calling 01905 673613 or e-mail Alison Avery for more information.
