Exporting honey to the EU: what the veterinary health certificate actually requires

Since 1 January 2021, every commercial honey shipment leaving Great Britain for the European Union has needed an Export Health Certificate (EHC) signed by an Official Veterinarian. Get a single field wrong and the consignment can sit at the border for days.

What's checked

The EHC confirms the honey was produced or packed in a registered establishment, that the apiaries of origin are free of notifiable bee diseases, and that residue monitoring (NRCP) results are clean. It also locks the consignment to a specific batch, weight, packaging and importer.

Common mistakes

The most frequent rejections we see at EU borders involve mismatched batch numbers between the EHC and the commercial invoice, missing CHED-D pre-notification on TRACES NT, and incorrect commodity codes. Any one of these will hold a load.

How we manage it

Every EU shipment leaves our UK partner facilities with the EHC pre-arranged, our Official Veterinarian engaged, the CHED-D pre-notified, and the customs paperwork (commercial invoice, packing list, CoA, declaration of origin, HS codes) issued together. You don't see the moving parts — your goods just clear.