Following the previous update on the use of TRACES, Defra have announced a change in the date regarding when you need to switch over to the new system. 

The Official Controls Regulation (OCR) – which affects importers of live animals, products of animal origin, and high risk food and feed – comes in to force on Saturday 14^th December 2019. With just two clear working days to go, we want to remind you of the actions you need to take to continue to trade and provide an update on when the pre notification system will go live.

The key changes as a result of the SRSF changes mean that importers of live animals and animal products need to:

·         Prepare to use a new Common Health Entry Document (CHED), instead of the Common Veterinary Entry Document (CVED) and the Common Entry Document (CED). 

·         Prepare to use TRACES NT to pre-notify Border Control Posts - BCPs (previously called BIPs, DPEs, and FPIs) of your import. You will need to be registered for TRACES-NT (see details below) and adhere to required pre-notification period. The minimum time for pre-notification will be one working day. However to address cases of logistical constraints (e.g. consignments travelling by airplane where the departure notice can be very short), the Regulation allows CAs at the BCP to apply a period of prior-notification of at least four hours.

Please familiarise yourself with further guidance on the new regulations here

When to use the new documentation and TRACES NT

Since we wrote to you last week, further testing work has been done on implementation in the UK. The UK will not be switching immediately to TRACES NT on 14^th December 2019.

Therefore, you should continue to pre-notify on the current TRACES Classic system using current CVED documentation.

The date you will need to start using TRACES NT and the new documentation depends on what you are importing:

·         Importers of live animals and high risk food and feed: You need to ensure you register for TRACES NT as soon as possible, as the system will become live across all Member States in the European Union from Saturday. However, once registered for TRACES NT, users should continue to pre-notify using the current TRACES Classic system for a short period of time. We will let you know when you should start to pre-notify using TRACES NT ahead of switchover give you a chance to get ready. This will be as soon as we are confident it is robustly integrated into the UK process. 

·         Importers of products of animal origin including meat and dairy: The introduction of TRACES NT for these products is being delayed. You should continue to use the current documentation and the TRACES Classic system. We will provide further information shortly, again ahead of switchover time to give you chance to get ready.

Registering for TRACES NT

Importers of animals and animal products from outside the European Union should register for TRACES NT following the instructions below:

a.    Create a new EU Login account.

b.    Once you have your new EU Login Account you can Request a new user access profile in TRACES.NT

c.     The profile you use must reflect your role, for example as an economic operator or Border Control Post (BCP) official.

d.    Economic operators must choose the BCP to which they wish to be associated for registration purposes, once registered you will be able to import through any BCP.

e.    BCP users should associate themselves to the appropriate Competent Authority.  Requests will be validated by the Competent Authority or BCP depending on your role.

Please be aware the first user who registers for a new TRACES NT account will become the admin for that organisation and will then be responsible for authorising all further users within their organisation.

We have been running a series of training and support sessions for importers on TRACES NT and these will continue to help you prepare for these changes.

Further information

For any technical help required with the registration, you can email your questions to sante-traces@ec.europa.eu.

You can find further information about the regulations by clicking on the embedded links:

·         EU Official Controls Regulation, published on 15 March 2017.

·         EU Animal Health Regulation, published on 31 March 2016