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Animal Products E-cert Help Files

Raising an Eligibility Document or Export Certificate

There are three ways to create a new Eligibility Document (ED) or Export Certificate. You can use Batch Files or the Interactive Browser Submission form to raise EDs or Export Certificates from scratch or use the Use for ED and Use for Export buttons on existing approved EDs to save some work.

In addition to these an ED can be raised for an Exporter to Exporter Transfer.

Export certificates are created from templates. These templates can have different versions and can have a number of statuses to control their availability. An "Approved" template version becomes available to the live site but will not be visible until its "Effective Date" arrives. Changes to an Approved template result in a new version of the template.

Templates may change without notice but are usually accompanied with an update to the country’s OMAR.

See If E-cert is unavailable for what to do when you can't get into E-cert.

Batch Files

You can use a batch file to create an ED or Export Certificate. An XML batch file is a series of tags indicating each data field and its associated value. These can be generated:

• automatically from a company computer inventory system

• manually using a word processor (eg Notepad or Microsoft Word) or a spreadsheet (eg Microsoft Excel)

• on-line from any existing ED or export certificate using the button.

The batch file must be saved as a text file for transfer via the browser-based XML batch file submission form or via SOAP. See your word processor or spreadsheet help file if you are unsure how to save as a text file.

Batch files are very useful if you have the same product being certified out repeatedly as you can use a batch file as a template and just make amendments and re-submit it to create a new ED or Export Certificate. Batch files are also the cheapest way to submit multiple certificates at one time.

For more information on generating and submitting batch files see Batch File Format.

For specific information on the requirements for specific batch file fields see:
Raising an Eligibility Document - Interactive Browser Entry Form,
Raising an Export Certificate - Interactive Browser Entry Form
Raising an ED or Export Certificate - Products and Processes.

Interactive Browser Submission Form

The interactive browser submission form allows you to input data on-line by filling in boxes on the screen. For most people, this is easier to use than a batch file but all the information that isn't contained in referenced source EDs must be manually entered on the form each time you create an ED or Export Certificate. Generally there are more database requests associated with raising a certificate this way than with batch files so they cost more. See minimising usage charges for more information.

For help with this see:
Raising an Eligibility Document - Interactive Browser Entry Form
Raising an Export Certificate - Interactive Browser Entry Form.

 

Use for ED and Use for Export 

When viewing an approved incoming ED which has been consigned to the premises there is a    button in the top right hand corner. This button creates a new outgoing ED based on the incoming one by putting the appropriate data directly into the Interactive Browser Entry Form for editing. The only entries required are a new certificate number, a consignee ID and at least one additional process per product item - the rest is filled in automatically but can be amended if necessary.

If the incoming ED has errors or does not match the product received it should be amended before using it to generate another certificate.

The product tracking information is filled in automatically assuming that all the incoming product is going out again (amend if that is not the case). Other entries that commonly need amending are the Departure Date, transport details and, for Transfers to Exporters (authorisations), removal of unnecessary countries and transfer control declarations.

This function is especially useful for premises that get a consignment of product for short term storage before sending out the whole consignment again. An example of this would be an airport coldstore forwarding airfreight consignments. It can also be a useful time-saver for when the bulk of an outgoing ED is derived from one incoming one.

A similar button  exists for creating Export Certificates from ED transfers to an exporter (authorisations). The consignor on the export certificate that is raised can be a different ID from the consignee on the source ED but they must both be IDs to which you have access.

For help with this also see:

Raising an Eligibility Document - Interactive Browser Entry Form
Raising an Export Certificate - Interactive Browser Entry Form.

 

Exporter to Exporter Transfer

If product is on-sold from one exporter to another you can transfer the product unchanged to the second exporter using the    button. 

For help with this see Exporter to Exporter Transfer

 

If E-cert is unavailable

The Official Assurance Programme requires that all users of E-cert shall have a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in place to provide alternative access to E-cert when E-cert is unavailable through their normal means. Because of all the different interconnected networks that make up the Internet, the fact that you can't access E-cert at a particular time doesn't necessarily mean E-cert itself is unavailable. Every effort shall be made to get access to E-cert to raise the certificate electronically before an emergency paper certificate can be considered.

For example, if you only have one computer and it dies, you can still access E-cert from a home computer or an associate company's computer. If the company computer network is down, a laptop with a modem can be used to access the internet. If premises A's phone system is down, premises B in the same company can be given temporary access to premises A to allow them to raise the ED. Some larger corporates have individuals who have access to all their premises which is another alternative.

If all possibilities have been exhausted and E-cert is unavailable for any length of time, the NZFSA Programme Manager (E-cert) or the Verification Agency Technical Coordinators (Certification) may authorise issue of an emergency paper certificate, if necessary, to cover the shipment of product until E-cert is available again. For more details, please refer to Official Assurances Programme.

The paper emergency ED shall contain ALL the data that would be required on an electronic ED, including source ED information. For users who generate EDs by batch file, a printout of the XML batch file is acceptable. For explanations of the tags in XML batch files, see Batch File Format. The paper ED shall be presented to NZFSA for signing and stamping in accordance with the time frames specified for the product.

The ED is needed so that the information that will appear on the certificate is available to be verified prior to load-out.

For export certificates, a BCP template for each export certificate is available to those with Inspector access on the Available Templates page in E-cert. If you need to use one of these for an urgent export certificate, contact your local NZFSA authorised person for a copy of the relevant template. As these are not available when E-cert is not accessible, VA staff keep an up-to-date copy of the templates on a local computer disk drive. The BCP template is printed onto security paper either at the local NZFSA office or an operator may print their own if they have print permissions. The required information shall be typed or printed onto this template, including the shoulder number in the same format as for the electronic certificate, and presented to NZFSA for signing.

The NZFSA authorised person issuing a template paper export certificate shall notify the certificate shoulder number to the NZFSA VA Technical Coordinators, for forwarding to the overseas authorities.

In all cases you shall enter the information from any emergency paper EDs or Export certificates into E-cert within one working day of E-cert becoming available and, in the case of EDs, the paper certificate shall be cancelled and returned to the originating premises.

All information must be entered into E-cert exactly the same as on the paper certificate, including the shoulder number.

The year component in the E-cert shoulder number is determined by the calendar year in the E-cert system. If you need to generate an emergency paper certificate at the end of the year you shall use the following year in the shoulder number unless you are certain you can get into E-cert to raise the certificate before the end of the year, eg an emergency paper certificate generated on 31 December 2009 should have the shoulder number beginning NZL2010/....