Import groupage or mixed load consignments of animal products into Great Britain
Guidance for EU exporters, exporters from the rest of the world and UK importers, on how to import groupage or mixed load consignments of animal products into Great Britain.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
You must follow the rules for importing animal products from the EU or non-EU countries into Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). All imported goods must meet the requirements for their import risk category. Check:
A consignment is a collection of products that are certified and dispatched together under a single health certificate and moved into Great Britain on the same means of transport.
Once a certified consignment is loaded onto the transport or into the shipping container, it should not be unloaded at any point before crossing the border and arriving at a Great Britain destination.
The goods can only be unloaded if they are:
- recertified or going to be recertified
- part of the Certification Logistics Pilot
- no longer being exported to Great Britain
- being unloaded at a border control post (BCP) or customs for checks
Groupage
The grouping of multiple consignments on the same means of transport is known as ‘groupage’. Groupage is not a legal term.
Groupage can mean:
- a single consignment of mixed products
- a mixed load of multiple consignments
A ‘single consignment of mixed products’ is where different products of the same commodity type (like cheese and butter, both dairy products) are grouped under a single health certificate and moved together.
A ‘mixed load’ is where many different commodity types (like dairy products and meat products) are grouped together on the same means of transport, and each consignment has its own health certificate.
Different products of the same commodity type
For different products of the same commodity type (like sausages and burgers which are both meat preparations), the exporter should talk to the certifying officer to see if the goods can be imported into Great Britain as either a:
- single consignment covered by a single health certificate
- a mixed load of many consignments, each under their own health certificate
The certifying officer may decide that the products can move as a single consignment under a single health certificate if:
- some of the information in part 1 of the health certificate applies to all products (for example, they will be dispatched from the same establishment in the EU and use the same means of transport)
- all the products meet the same attestations in part 2 of the health certificate, where these do not have ‘and/or’ statements
When the importer raises an import notification on the import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS), they can put different products onto a single common health entry document (CHED) if the consignment is certified under a single health certificate.
Compound products
The importer should not add low risk products to the same import notification as medium risk products, because they can not be covered by the same health certificate.
Importing groupage or mixed load consignments
Before you import groupage consignments into Great Britain, you should read the relevant health certificate to understand the official control requirements for your specific product types.
It is advisable to contact the relevant competent authority in the exporting country for more information and to co-ordinate groupage certification. You should do this as early as possible in your planning. For information on certification needed in Great Britain, you can contact the designated BCP linked to the point of entry.
Methods of importing groupage consignments
You can use 2 main methods when you are making plans to import groupage consignments into Great Britain:
- consolidation
- multi-pick-up
Consolidation hub method
This is where many individual consignments are brought together at a single premises (or final point of dispatch) known as a ‘consolidation hub’.
The hub can act as a receiver, handler, storage provider and/or consolidator of the goods.
Products must be certified at the consolidation hub (as the point of dispatch to Great Britain) to check that the requirements for Great Britain have been met. They will then be loaded together onto the same means of transport.
The certifying officer may ask for more information or confirmation that the requirements are being or have been met.
It is up to the certifying officer issuing the health certificate to determine if the consignment meets the requirements for certification.
It is up to traders to coordinate the particulars of certification at an establishment with the local competent authority.
Defra pilot programme that removes the need for a certifying officer at a consolidation hub
Defra is testing out a model that removes the need for a certifying officer to inspect certain packaged goods from the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland at a consolidation hub. Instead, participants of Defra’s Certification Logistics Pilot must provide the necessary assurances and declarations, and ensure the integrity of goods during transport, storage and handling. This option is only available to participants of the pilot. To use this model, the products must have been certified by a certifying officer at the point of origin.
All other medium risk products that are not covered by the pilot need a health certificate issued at the consolidation hub by a certifying officer.
Multiple pick-up method
This is where a collection of individual consignments from multiple sites are moved by the same means of transport.
Products must be certified at each point of dispatch to Great Britain to make sure that the requirements for Great Britain have been met. They will then be loaded onto the same means of transport.
The specific arrangements for certification need to be coordinated by the exporter and the relevant authorities in the exporting country.
It is up to the certifying officer issuing the health certificate to determine if the consignments meet the requirements for certification.
Simpler health certificates for groupage imports
Health certificates for animal products have changed to allow more products of the same type to be certified under a single health certificate.
Many of the sections that require an ‘either/or’ statement have been replaced with ‘and/or’ statements. This allows more products of the same type that meet different conditions to move under a single health certificate, rather than all products having to meet the same conditions.
For example, the certifying officer can issue the same health certificate for:
- different products that have been tested for trichinella using different methods, like digestion or freezing, or that come from farms that do not have trichinella
- ovine meat from different EU countries, even though each country has its own unique code for ovine meat – in this example, Great Britain will accept goods from more than one member state certified on one health certificate, but for traceability assurances, the origin of each must be listed
- 2 dairy products that have the same heat treatment done to the milk used to manufacture the product
Supporting information for official certification
The official veterinarian (OV) or certifying officer can use a wide range of information sources for certification, including:
- their own observations
- verified facts and data from authorised personnel
- facts and data from the operators’ internal control systems that are complemented and confirmed by results from regular official controls
Great Britain does not impose additional requirements on batch specific pre-certification beyond the requirements of official import certificates.
The OV or certifying officer must make sure that the conditions for issuing official certificates are met before they are issued.
Schedules
If appropriate, the certifying officer can issue a ‘schedule’. A schedule is inserted into the health certificate and gives more information when there is not enough room on the health certificate.
For example:
- when the products in a consignment contain a range of batch numbers or different slaughter dates
- to specify which attestations apply to which products within the consignment, especially if the product may be exported onwards from Great Britain or will be incorporated into a new product that will be exported onwards from Great Britain
The schedule needs to be certified and signed by a certifying officer.
How the certifying officer should include the schedule depends on whether it is paper based or electronic. If it is paper based, the certifying officer should insert the schedule into the health certificate. The schedule must:
- be marked with the same reference number as the health certificate
- have separate page numbers to the health certificate, and the format of the numbering should include the schedule’s total number of pages – for example, ‘1 of 3’, ‘2 of 3’, ‘3 of 3’
If the schedule is part of an electronic, PDF GB health certificate, the certifying officer can do one of the following:
- upload a scanned copy of the signed schedule to the TRACES system
- use an approved, competent authority system and include the schedule as part of the electronic certificate
If the certifying officer is using TRACES, they can upload the schedule to box I.17 (this number may be different depending on the certificate).
Exporting to Great Britain without full transport information
If you are exporting animal products from the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland as part of a groupage or mixed load, you may not know the final means of transport information or vehicle identification. Therefore, the certifying officer may complete the ‘means of transport’ section of the health certificate (usually box I.15) and use the word ‘groupage’ as the identification instead. The certifying officer should only add the word ‘groupage’ to this section of the health certificate.
If the health certificate requires inspection of the means of transport, the certifying officer:
- must add the transport details to the health certificate
- cannot use the word ‘groupage’ as identification
The health certificate only remains valid if the consignment does not change during transport to its final Great Britain destination. The goods will still need to be recertified if they are consolidated at a consolidation hub.
Even if the certifying officer uses ‘groupage’ as identification in the health certificate, the importer must identify the means of transport when raising an import notification on IPAFFS before the consignment arrives in Great Britain. To do this, the importer must add at least one of the following:
- flight number
- road vehicle registration number
- train number
- vessel name (if the goods are travelling by ferry, the importer can also add the road vehicle registration number)
The importer must also identify the means of transport for the consignment once it leaves the BCP if this is different to the means of transport to the point of entry.
Transporting goods
The exporter and haulier can use their own methods for secure transportation and to differentiate individual consignments within a groupage or mixed load, unless specific methods are required by the:
- health certificate
- regulations for that specific commodity
- relevant authority in the exporting country
The exporter or haulier should organise and clearly label goods to show the difference between controlled and non-controlled items on a means of transport. This will help if a consignment is selected for border checks and it’s part of a group of consignments that are on the same means of transport – for example, if medium risk meat products which are controlled under sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulations, and washing machine parts which are not controlled under SPS regulations, are on the same means of transport.
Stay up to date
The government is exploring other options that could improve health certificates for groupage, while protecting biosecurity and human health. We encourage businesses to sign up for email alerts and stay up to date with the latest guidance on GOV.UK.
Contact the authorised BCP for your point of entry if you have questions.
Updates to this page
Last updated 1 July 2024 + show all updates
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Clarifications throughout. This includes clarifying that if a schedule is needed with a health certificate, it is the certifying officer that issues and includes it. Also clarified that, even if a certifying officer uses ‘groupage’ as identification for the means of transport in a health certificate, the importer must identify the means of transport when raising an import notification before the consignment arrives in Great Britain.
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This page has been updated for 30 April 2024.
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Added a new section about supporting information for official certification under ‘Simpler health certificates for groupage imports’.
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For live animals you need to add the schedule to box I.28 of the health certificate.
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More information on how to add schedules has been added.
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A prompt has been added to prepare for new import controls which begin on 31 January 2024.
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First published.