Published 23/01/2020
Defra and APHA have this week provided the following guidance for equine vets inseminating with fresh semen imported from the EU:
The Trade in Animal Related Products (TARP) legislation, which requires that the original (hard copy) OV-approved Intra Trade Animal Health Certificate (ITAHC) to accompany the product to its destination may not be practical in the case of fresh chilled semen.
In order to facilitate such trade, the UK has agreed that consignments of fresh chilled equine semen can be accompanied by any one of:
- the original OV-approved ITAHC
- a hardcopy of the original OV-approved ITAHC, provided by the exporter
- the OV-approved ITAHC downloaded by the importer from TRACES (including the ‘original’ watermark)
- an electronic (e.g. email) copy of any of the above
Provided that the inseminating vet has verified the accompanying document (above), or copy of the document emailed from the importer, against the consignment, she/he can have sufficient confidence that the import is bona fide.
It is not the inseminating vet that is responsible for checking that the original hard-copy approved ITAHC is ultimately received by the importer (unless the vet is the importer).