May 6, 2026·8 min read·customs-invoice team

Import Documents by HS Code: CITES, Phytosanitary, Veterinary, FDA-Equivalent

Customs duty is the cost most importers plan for. The cost most importers GET CAUGHT BY is the certificate they didn't know was required. The TARIC database publishes per-CN-code measure conditions listing exactly which documents customs expects at the border — and most HS-code lookup tools don't surface them. We do.

Short version.Customs duty is the cost most importers plan for. The cost most importers GET CAUGHT BY is the certificate they didn't know was required — turning a routine landing into a 3-week detention, a destruction order, or a returned-to-origin shipment. The TARIC database and the UK CDS both publish per-CN-code measure conditions listing exactly which documents customs expects at the border. Most HS-code lookup tools don't surface them. We do.

Per-code document checklist

Look up exactly which certificates your code needs

Every CN code page shows the “Required documents” section sourced live from EU TARIC + HMRC tariff publications. Document codes, certificate descriptions, and requirement text verbatim from the customs authority.

Browse HS codes

The four certificate categories EU/UK customs actually checks

1. Veterinary health certificates (TRACES / IPAFFS)

Issued by the official veterinarian in the exporting country and pre-notified through TRACES (EU) or IPAFFS (UK) before arrival. Required for live animals, animal-derived foodstuffs (meat, dairy, eggs, honey, gelatin, fish), and many pharmaceutical and cosmetic ingredients of animal origin.

Examples where the requirement renders on our pages:

01022100 — live heifers (female bovines that have never calved). Multiple veterinary controls under Reg (EU) 2019/1715 — animal health, zootechnical, sometimes organic.
01023100 — live buffalo. Same TRACES regime.
02012090 — fresh bovine cuts, bone-in. Animal-product health certificate via TRACES, plus customs declaration for sanitary controls (CHED-P).
04069021— cheese (dairy product). Health certificate from origin, plus a production-establishment listing requirement (the dairy must be on the EU's approved-establishment list).

2. Phytosanitary certificates (CHED-PP)

Issued by the National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO) of the exporting country for plants and plant products intended for planting, fresh produce, certain wood, grains, and seeds. Pre-notified via TRACES under the CHED-PP (Common Health Entry Document for Plants and Plant Products) channel. Required from any non-EU origin.

06031100 — fresh cut roses. Phytosanitary certificate mandatory; some origins (Kenya, Ethiopia, Colombia) have additional pre- export inspection regimes.
06031200 — fresh cut carnations. Same phytosanitary regime.
12119086 — medicinal plants and parts. Phytosanitary plus a CHED-D channel for food/feed safety controls.
44032110 — sawn coniferous wood, pine. Phytosanitary plus certain origins require an ISPM 15 heat-treatment mark on packaging.
44032190 — sawn coniferous wood, other. Same.

3. CITES export permits

Required when the goods, or any component, include species on Annex A/B/C of Regulation (EC) 338/97 (the EU's implementation of the CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). The exporter must obtain the permit BEFORE shipment from the origin country's CITES Management Authority. Common surprises:

Antique furniture with rosewood, mahogany, or ivory-veneered components.
Leather goods made from python, alligator, or stingray.
Musical instruments with Brazilian rosewood fingerboards (a frequent issue for orchestral imports).
Some cosmetic/pharmaceutical preparations with components of plant origin from CITES-listed species.

4. Pharmaceutical / chemical product registration

Pharmaceuticals require pre-import notification under EU Falsified Medicines Directive (2011/62/EU) for finished pharmaceutical products. Active pharmaceutical ingredients require a written confirmation from the regulatory authority of the exporting country. Some chemicals fall under REACH or the Rotterdam PIC procedure.

30049000 — medicaments not elsewhere specified. Marketing authorisation in the destination member state plus origin-country GMP certificate; controlled substances need an import licence.

How to find the EXACT documents your code needs

Don't guess from category. Look up your specific CN code:

Pull the CN code off your customs declaration or your customs broker's classification.
Open /hs-codes/{chapter}/{code}?country=EUR for EU imports or ?country=GBR for the UK. Example: /hs-codes/04/04069021?country=EUR for cheese.
Scroll past the duty rates to the Required documentssection. Each row shows: document code (e.g. C400), certificate description (e.g. "Health certificate"), and the requirement text the customs authority publishes. Document codes that start with C are produced documents; Y codes are statements / status declarations / waiver markers.
Forward the list to your customs broker AND your supplier. The supplier is the one who has to obtain the certificates — most are issued in the country of export, by an authority in that country, before the goods leave.

Edge cases that catch importers out

Wood-packaging materials. Even when the primary goods don't need a phytosanitary certificate, the wooden pallets / crates / dunnage do — under ISPM 15 they must carry a heat-treatment or fumigation mark. Customs reject containers on this issue routinely.
Annex II of CITES Reg 338/97. The Annex list is updated; an item that didn't need a permit five years ago might now. The list lives at the EUR-Lex consolidated version.
Mixed-content shipments. A pallet of mixed dairy and fish has TWO health-certificate regimes running in parallel and a single CHED-P that has to cover both — common to fail because customs expects one CHED per establishment per product family.
Re-exports with EU-origin material. Goods re-exported with prior CITES Annex A material need a re-export certificate AND retention of the original import CITES file — failing to retain is a CITES-listing offence.

Where the data comes from

Our HS code pages render conditions sourced from HMRC's XI tariff (the legally-required EU TARIC mirror under the Windsor Framework, identical measure-condition data to the EU TARIC database) and from HMRC's GB tariff for UK-bound shipments. The conditions table is refreshed weekly via automated pulls from each authority's per-commodity API. Each row carries effective dates so you can see when the requirement was last revised.

FAQ

How do I find which certificates apply to my HS code?

Open our HS code page (/hs-codes/{chapter}/{code}) and scroll to the 'Required documents' section. We render every measure_condition the EU TARIC and HMRC tariffs publish for that code: CITES export permit, veterinary health certificate via TRACES, phytosanitary certificate, FDA-equivalent prior notice (CHED-D / CHED-P / CHED-PP / CHED-A in EU vocabulary). Each row shows the document code (C400, Y012, etc.), the certificate description, and the requirement text — verbatim from the customs authority's published rules.

What's the difference between CITES, phytosanitary, and veterinary certificates?

CITES certificates are issued under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species — required when the goods include species on Annex A/B/C of EU Reg 338/97 (rosewood furniture, certain leather, ivory antiques, exotic timber). Phytosanitary certificates are issued by the EXPORTING country's plant-protection service for fresh plants, plant products, fresh wood, seeds, and grains — they certify pest-free origin. Veterinary health certificates (issued via the EU's TRACES system or the UK's IPAFFS) are required for animals and animal-derived products — meat, dairy, eggs, honey, hides, certain pharmaceuticals.

What happens if I ship without a required document?

The shipment is detained at the EU/UK external border, the importer pays demurrage while the document is sourced (often impossible after the fact for phytosanitary and CITES — they must be issued in the country of EXPORT, before shipment), and the goods are typically returned, destroyed, or seized. CITES violations carry criminal liability under each member state's wildlife-trade enforcement law. Build certificate procurement into your supplier onboarding before the first shipment leaves origin.

Are these requirements the same for the UK after Brexit?

Mostly yes — the UK kept the same TARIC measure-type model and adopted equivalent certificate codes under the CDS (Customs Declaration Service). UK uses IPAFFS instead of TRACES for animal/plant health pre-notification. CITES requirements are identical (UK is a CITES party in its own right). Some small divergences exist for sanitary-and-phytosanitary controls — our UK code pages show the GB-specific requirements separately from the Northern-Ireland-via-XI ones.

Sources. Council Regulation (EC) 338/97 on CITES implementation: eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/1997/338/oj. Per-CN-code measure-condition data refreshed weekly from HMRC's GB tariff and XI per-commodity APIs.