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State Plant Health
and Seed Inspection Service

What is TRACES?

TRACES is an IT system handling the import and export of, among other things, plant goods.

http://webgate.ec.europa.eu/tracesnt/ 

TRACES in Imports From Third Countries

Article 56 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and of the Council on official controls and other official acts, stipulates that each consignment of plant goods regulated under EU phytosanitary rules must be accompanied by a Common Health Entry Document, or CHED-PP.

For each consignment of regulated plants and plant products (for list see Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/2072) the person responsible for the consignment completes electronically in TRACES the first part of CHED-PP, providing information necessary for immediate and complete identification of the consignment and its destination. This document is at the same time a notification of the consignment for border phytosanitary inspection.

Notification to the competent inspection authorities (i.e. completion of CHED-PP in TRACES-NT) should take place prior to the arrival of the consignment at the border crossing post (operator is required to notify the consignment for inspection at least 24 hours before the actual arrival of the consignment in the EU, and for air transport, 6 hours before the arrival). Failure to complete CHED-PP results in border phytosanitary inspection not being carried out until the operator complies with this obligation.

All stages of border inspection, its results and decisions of the SPPSI inspectors are also documented electronically in CHED-PP. CHED-PP is the basis for Customs and Fiscal Service to assign the consignment to a specific customs procedure. The consignment may only be released after operator presents to Customs a completed CHED-PP confirming that the consignment complies with phytosanitary requirements.
In order for Responsible For The Consignment to complete the respective section of CHED-PP, it is necessary to create a free account in TRACES NT. This account must be approved by the relevant SPPSI unit.

TRACES in Exports to Third Countries

As of 1 January 2022 the European Commission, by providing EU Member States with an IT tool, enabled electronic phytosanitary certificates to be issued for consignments of plant goods intended for export to non-EU Member States. Electronic phytosanitary certificates are issued only for consignments destined for countries that accept this form of document.

In order to obtain an electronic phytosanitary certificate, it is necessary to have an account in TRACES NT and to complete the first part of the PHYTO document. The document must indicate the location of goods to be exported and be accompanied by required documents (in the form of electronic copies - authenticity of documents is verified during inspection). Before a certificate is issued, a pre-export inspection must be carried out.

If the phytosanitary certificate is issued electronically, a paper copy of the document is not issued.

Documents completed and signed in TRACES NT by a person with a verified account do not need to be additionally signed with another form of electronic signature.