APPENDIX II: PROPOSED DRAFT GUIDELINES FOR GENERIC OFFICIAL CERTIFICATE FORMATS AND THE PRODUCTION AND ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATES

At Step 5

PREAMBLE

1. These guidelines are based on the presumption that commercial parties are responsible for product safety and conformity with requirements at all stages of food production.

OBJECTIVES

2. Certificates should contain essential information that meets the objectives of the importing country's requirements in respect of food safety and facilitation of fair trade in food. The level of information required should be adequate for the importing country's purpose and not impose unnecessary burdens on the exporting country or exporter, nor should there be a requirement for the disclosure of information that is commercial-in-confidence unless it is of relevance to public health. Certificates should only be required in cases where it is necessary to ensure product safety or to ensure fair trade practices.

SCOPE

3. These guidelines concern the design and use of official and [officially recognized certificates] that attest to attributes of food presented for international trade. Certificates should be required only where necessary to ensure product safety and wholesomeness, or otherwise facilitate trade.

4. These guidelines do not deal with matters of animal and plant health since these are not under the mandate of Codex. However, it is recognized that, in commercial practice, certificates may contain information relevant to these matters.

5. These guidelines envisage the possible use of paper and electronic forms of certification.

DEFINITIONS

Certificates are those certificates issued by an official, or an officially recognized certification body of an exporting country, in accordance with the requirements of an importing country.

Official certificates [to be developed]

Officially printed copies [to be developed]

Officially recognized certificates [to be developed]

Officially recognized certification bodies

Requirements are the criteria set down by the competent authorities relating to trade in foodstuffs covering the protection of public health, the protection of consumers and conditions of fair-trading.

PRINCIPLES

6. Certificates should be required only when necessary to ensure product safety or to otherwise facilitate trade. The rationale and requirements for export certification should be communicated in a transparent manner and consistently implemented in a non-discriminatory manner. Certificates should be designed and used in a manner that:

• meet requirements in respect of food safety and the facilitation of fair trade in food;
  
• simplifies and expedites the certification process;
  
• clarifies the responsibility of all parties;
  
• satisfies compulsory trade description requirements;
  
• provides for accurate identification of the consignment being certified;
  
• minimizes the risk of fraud.

CRITERIA

STANDARD FORMAT

7. Certificates should contain a declaration by the official, or officially recognized, certification body and be duly signed and sealed by an officer authorized by the competent authority for this purpose. The certificate should clearly identify the certifying body with letterhead and/ or logo.

8. Each official certificate should have a unique identification number and be printed in an unambiguous style in a language, or languages, fully understood by the certifying officers and by the receiving authority. A record of unique identification numbers assigned to batches of printed certificates should be maintained by the competent authority and be able to be related to the distribution of the certificates. [Certificates issued by officially recognized bodies may, or may not, be required to have a unique identification number as appropriate to the circumstances.]

9. The original certificate should be uniquely identifiable and be printed with at least one copy for the use of the certifying authority and retention by that authority for an appropriate period of time. Further copies may be officially printed copies or photocopies. In all cases the status of the certificate should be clear, for example, marked "original" or "copy".

10. Certificates, in any form, should be designed so as to minimize the risk of fraud (for example, use of watermark paper, use of paper that cannot be photocopied, or other security measures).

11. Where certificates are produced in a physical form, they should occupy one sheet of paper or, where more than one page is required, either in such a form that any two or more pages are part of an integrated whole and indivisible sheet of paper. Where this is not possible, each individual sheet should be separately initialed by the certifying officer and/or numbered so as to indicate it is a particular page in a finite sequence (for example page 2 of 4 pages).

12. Certificates should contain a clear reference to any requirements to which the certified product is required to conform.

13. The certificate should clearly describe the commodity and consignment to which it uniquely relates.

14. [Certificates may be issued after goods have been exported provided adequate measures are in place to ensure the consignment to which the certificate relates, is intact, identifiable and has not been modified or otherwise manipulated in any way. These measures may include the provision of documentation by another officially recognized body if the consignment has passed out of the control of the issuing authority.] / [No certificate may be issued after the consignment has left the control of the relevant authority except where, under exceptional circumstances, it may be possible to issue a certificate on the basis of assurances from an officially recognized body if the consignment has been under continuous official supervision during transport.]

15. The use of electronic means for the issue or transfer of certificates should be accepted where the integrity of the certification system has been assured to the satisfaction of the relevant authorities of both the importing and exporting country. The certificate should be available on request for presentation to the importing country's authorities in hard copy form. When electronic certificates are used, the importing country's inspectors should have electronic access to the certification details.

DETAILS OF THE CONSIGNMENT

(NOTE: These details are not specific to food, as they constitute the normal field of information contained in any Bill of Lading for transport vessels carrying product between countries. The shipping data on the official certification documentation provides a means of verifying details about the product.)

16. The details of the product being certified should be clearly documented on the certificate, which should at least contain the following information:

• nature of the food;
  
• name of product;
  
• quantity, in the appropriate units;
  
• lot identifier or date coding;
  
• identity of production establishment;
  
• name and contact details of the importer (consignee);
  
• name and contact details of the exporter (consignor);
  
• country of dispatch, and;
  
• any other information required by the importing country.

STATEMENT OF ORIGIN

17. Where, in exceptional cases justified by immediate public health concern, the importing country requires a statement as to the origin of ingredients in a product, the certificate should specify the origin of ingredients sourced outside the exporting country.

ATTESTATIONS

18. The particular attestations to be contained in a certificate will be determined by the requirements of the importing country. They should be clearly identified in the text of the certificate. Such attestations may include, but are not limited to:

• public health status;

• product conformity with particular grade or other requirements;

• the status (licensing details) of processing and/or packaging establishment in the exporting country; and,

• reference to any associated bilateral/multilateral agreement.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CERTIFYING AUTHORITY

19. The certifying authority should be designated and adequately empowered by national legislation or regulation in a transparent manner to provide the particular attestations required in a certificate.

20. The authorities should ensure that their procedures allow for the issue of the certificate in a timely manner so as to avoid unnecessary disruptions to trade.

21. The authorities should have in place an effective system to prevent, to the extent practicable, the fraudulent use of official certificates.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF CERTIFYING OFFICERS

22. Information and guidance notes to facilitate the correct completion of certificates should be available to all certifying officers and to the parties responsible for providing details for inclusion in a certificate.

23. The certifying officers should:

• be appropriately designated by the certifying authority

• be fully conversant with the requirements to which they are attested on the certificate;

• have access to a copy of regulations or requirements that are referred to on the certificate or clear information and guidance notes issued by the competent authority explaining the criteria that the product must meet before being certified;

• have no conflict of interest in the commercial aspects of the consignment and be independent from the commercial parties;

• only certify matters which are within their own knowledge (or which have been separately attested to by another competent party); and only certify in respect of the circumstances known at the time of signing the document.

PRESENTATION OF ORIGINAL CERTIFICATES

24. The importer (consignee) is responsible for ensuring that the product is presented to the importing country's authorities with the original certificate in accordance with the importing country's requirements.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING THE FORM

25. Certificates should always be issued and presented, to the exporter or his/her agent, in the original.

26. A copy of the certificate (clearly marked "COPY" or "DUPLICATE") should be provided to the competent authorities in both the exporting and importing countries, on request.

27. When signing a certificate, the officer should ensure that:

• the certificate contains no deletions other than those required by the text of the certificate;

• any alterations of the certified information are initialled and sealed by the certifying officer using the official stamp of the competent authority;

• the certificate bears his/her signature, the name and official position of the certifying officer in clear lettering and, where appropriate, his/her qualifications;

• the certificate bears the date on which the certificate was signed and issued and, where appropriate, the time for which the certificate will remain valid;

• no portion of the certificate is left blank in a manner that would allow it to be amended after signature by the certifying officer.

REPLACEMENT CERTIFICATES

28. Where, for any good and sufficient reason (such as damage to the certificate in transit), a replacement certificate is issued by the certifying officer it must be clearly marked "REPLACEMENT" before being issued. A replacement certificate should reference the number of the original certificate.