Do you make CHED (in Dutch "GGB") documents for importing live animals and animal products into the Netherlands? According to a notification from the NVWA, as of April 1, 2024, it will be mandatory to electronically attach documents such as veterinary certificates to your CHED documents when submitting them to the NVWA.
🐖 If you're unfamiliar with what a CHED / GGB document is, you can read more in this article: The Veterinary Import Process with NVWA: GGB Import.
Due to further digitalisation, as of April 1, 2024, it will be mandatory to submit CHED attachments electronically. Scanned health certificates and other origin documents will be forwarded to Traces NT. In some cases, this is already mandatory. When a health certificate is attached in Traces NT, no certified copy of the health certificate will be issued as standard.
Traces NT has a limit on the maximum file size: one attachment cannot exceed 2 MB. Tests have shown that in most cases, it is possible to stay within this limit even with color origin documents. If an attachment exceeds 2 MB, an error message will occur, and it will need to be rescanned to register a pre-notification.
When sending via HTG, attachments must have the document number as the filename. However, some countries use forward slashes or possibly other characters in their certificate numbers that cannot be used in a filename. In that case, use an underscore ("_") so that the link between the filename and the certificate number can still be made.
If it is truly impossible to create a readable copy within 2 MB, this will be temporarily accepted, and you can still send the attachment via the usual route to the known mailboxes at Customs. However, this means that the attachment cannot be automatically linked and forwarded to Traces NT. If Customs continues to manually link attachments, this will result in extra work and a longer processing time for document checks. NVWA advises to send attachments via HTG.
NVWA expects all customs software providers to be able to send attachments via the HTG route. As of April 1, 2024, NVWA will forward error messages received from Traces NT regarding missing attachments to the senders of the shipments. As of April 1, 2024, it will no longer be possible to register a CHED pre-notification without the mandatory attachmetns for TRACES.
Gateway is ready for the attachment feature
As a customs software interfaced with both Customs and NVWA, Gateway has long been ready for the new attachment feature. When creating the CHED document for NVWA, you can add attachments such as scanned health certificates and other origin documents.
A pop-up in Gateway will prompt you to select which PDF attachments you'd like to add. If no file is selected, instructions will be provided on how to do so. Optionally, you can proceed with submitting the CHED document without additional attachments.
🍅 The same applies to the phytosanitary PD documents (or CHED-PP). If you're unfamiliar with what a PD document is, you can read more in this article: The Phytosanitary Import Process with NVWA's CLIETN Import.
Gateway can validate your CHED and PD documents. Additionally, a feature has been added to allow you to validate the CHED or PD documents without sending them to NVWA. If there are errors in your CHED or PD documents, Gateway will display the document errors. If your CHED or PD documents are in order, Gateway will prompt you to proceed with sending the CHED document.
It is already possible to include attachments via message traffic via HTG. If you have any questions about how to send attachments to NVWA, please don't hesitate to contact us.
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