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Bord Bia

Live Animals and products of Animal Origin (POAO)

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What you need to know

  • The import of live animals and products of animal origin (POAO) for human and non-human consumption from Great Britain are subject to Official Import Controls upon entry into the EU by applying mandatory SPS checks, including veterinary checks. Please see the following set of guidelines from the DAFM on importing live animals and POAO. 
  • Great Britain is listed by the European Commission as an approved Third Country supplier. Ensure your GB supplier is an approved establishment in order to export the category of product to the EU.  
  • Live animals and products of animal origin can only enter the EU through Border Control Posts (BCPs) designated for the species and categories of animals concerned.  
  • All POAO require a health certificate for entry into the EU from Great Britain (there are very few exceptions to this). Ensure that your GB supplier can meet the requirements for certification of each product that you want to import and that they can provide a health certificate for each consignment signed by an official veterinarian on behalf of the UK competent Authority. A colour scanned copy needs to be provided to the importer.  
  • The Irish importer must register with the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine. The Department’s online registration form here provides a quick and easy way to register to import or export. Only registered traders approved to import may import products of animal origin directly from third countries.  
  • As the importer, you must decide who the “operator responsible for the consignment” will be. You may decide to carry out these functions yourself, within your own business, or you may decide to engage an agent to do this on your behalf.  
  • Register with Trade Control & Expert System - New Technologies (TRACES). Both the organisation and the individual people within that organisation requiring access to TRACES must be registered in order to be able to have the relevant authorisations. Once registered as an importer DAFM will provide you with the TRACES application form. Both the importer and the operator responsible for the consignment must be registered on TRACES.  
  • The Operator responsible for the consignment must register for access to the DAFM Imports Notification Inspection System (INIS Portal)  
  • The operator responsible for the consignment must provide:  
  • 24 hours prior notification of the arrival of the consignment by submitting Part 1 of the Common Health Entry Document (CHED) in TRACES, CHED A for live animals and CHED P for products of animal origin. Log into TRACES.  
  • 24 hours before arrival of the consignment to the BCP, send a notification to DAFM using the imports portal. The Person responsible for the consignment includes all relevant details requested by the Imports portal, e.g. Movement Reference Number, CHED number, means of transport, packaging, invoice etc. A scanned Copy of the Original Health Certificate (colour scan of original) must be uploaded to the Imports Portal. (The portal will prescribe the mandatory documents which must be uploaded). Please note the original hard copy of the health certificate must travel with the consignment, this will be checked and held at the BCP at the point of entry into the EU.  
  • All live animals are subject to documentary, identity and physical checks at the BCP.  
  • POAO consignments are subject to documentary and identity checks, and a certain portion will be subject to physical checks. The frequency of these checks depends on the nature of the consignment.  
  • If your consignment has an official seal attached, identity checks will be completed on the seal to ensure it is intact and not tampered with. If there is no competent authority seal, a full identity check takes place.  
  • It is important to note that there is an added cost to your business for BCP checks to be carried out. More information on fees can be found here.  
  • For further detailed information, please see: https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/importofanimalsandanimalproducts/.  
  • For further help and guidance on specific product queries please contact Brexit@agriculture.gov.ie.