Certification

01/02/2013
 

Chapter list

  1. Certification of wine for export to non-EU countries
  2. Certification of fruit and vegetables
  3. Certification of foodstuffs

1. Certification of wine for export to non-EU countries

Procedures prior to exporting wine may be found in the "Wine" article

On 17/11/1992, the EU Commission-Wine Committee DG VI granted the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority, Inspectorate in Brno, the right to complete document VI 1, for the export of wine from the Czech Republic (OJ L 128 from 10/5/2001).

2. Certification of fruit and vegetables

Trading with EU member states

CAFIA carries out checks of the quality of fresh fruit and vegetables in accordance with Regulation (EU) No. 543/2011. Certification of fresh fruit and vegetables is only carried out in the case of fresh fruit and vegetables exported to or imported from non-EU countries. Certificates are not issued for trade within the EU, no certification is required for importing fresh fruit and vegetables from EU member states into the Czech Republic, or for exporting from the Czech Republic to other EU member states. The customer and the supplier may agree on specific conditions for the supplied product as a part of their contractual relationship.
In any case, the supplier must keep the conditions laid down by relevant EU regulations, fresh fruit and vegetables must be in accordance with the trading standards given in Annex I, part A, B of Regulation No. 543/2011.

Trading with non-EU countries

Before deliveries of fresh fruit and vegetables from non-EU countries are offered for sale, they must be certified by CAFIA - checks whether they comply with trading standards. If the delivery complies with the relevant trading standards, a certificate that it complies with the EU standards is issued.
At present, the certificates are issued on the basis of Regulation (EU) No. 543/2011. The issue of a certificate is subject to an administrative fee.
Compliance checks are only carried out in the case of special trading standards, which only exist for 10 selected products. For all other fresh fruit and vegetable products, which are subject to general trading standards, the compliance checks may be waived on the basis of a risk analysis. This possibility is derived from Regulation (EC) No. 543/2011.
The exception concerns products from authorised non-EU countries, which the Commission has authorised to carry out compliance checks before export to the EU. If the delivery is accompanied by a certificate of compliance with trading standards issued by an authorised body in a non-EU country, CAFIA will only carry out random compliance checks.
List of authorised bodies in non-EU countries (available in Czech language)
There is a special regime for certification of green bananas according to Regulation (EU) No. 1333/2011 laying down marketing standards for bananas, rules on the verification of compliance with those standards and requirements for notifications in the banana sector.
How to proceed if a trader wishes to export or re-export fresh fruit and vegetables:
He must contact the relevant CAFIA Inspectorate, and inform them in advance on:
  • time and date of shipment
  • address of shipment destination
  • payment for certification - the fee for issuing a certificate is 1,000 CZK

3. Certification of foodstuffs

On 1/1/2000 - in connection with the revisions to Act No.110/1997 Coll., on Foodstuffs and Tobacco Products, Provision § 3 of this Act was amended. This also made the Ministry of Agriculture Implementing Decree No. 220/1998 Coll., on the methods and extent of assessment of foodstuff compliance …unenforceable, and which was definitively cancelled from 1/1/2002. Not only for producers, but de jure for everybody involved in the foodstuffs trade in the Czech Republic, the duty to provide their products with a "declaration of compliance" was abolished. This cannot now be required by law.
CAFIA only provides certification for foodstuffs or raw materials in the unregulated sector on the basis of requests from producers(application form may be downloaded), especially for the purpose of export. The extent of testing is usually determined by the foreign customer.
Procedure:
Certification is carried out at each inspectorate by authorised employees (see addresses below), who may be approached depending on the registered office of the company. 
List of CAFIA employees authorised in the field of certification:
Address
Telephone, Fax, E-mail
Contact to authorised employee
CAFIA Inspectorate in Prague
Za opravnou 4
150 06 Praha 5 Motol
tel.: +420 257 199 515
fax: +420  257 199 529
e-mail:
jitka.fivebrovazavinac.gifszpi.gov.cz
Ing. Jitka Fivebrová
 
CAFIA Inspectorate in Tábor
Purkyňova 2533,
390 01 Tábor
tel.: +420 381 200 035
fax: +420 381 257 000
e-mail: alena.wojtechovazavinac.gifszpi.gov.cz
Ms Alena Wojtěchová
 
CAFIA Inspectorate in Plzeň
Jiráskovo nám. 8,
303 85 Plzeň
tel.: +420 377 433 423
fax: +420  377 455 229
e-mail: jaroslava.makrlikovazavinac.gifszpi.gov.cz
Ing. Jaroslava Makrlíková  
CAFIA Inspectorate in Ústí nad Labem
Masarykova 19/275,
403 40 Ústí nad Labem
tel.: +420 475 651 133
fax: +420 475 651 232
e-mail: milena.siklovazavinac.gifszpi.gov.cz
Ms Milena Šiklová
 
CAFIA Inspectorate in Hradec Králové
Březhradská 182,
503 32 Hradec Králové
tel.: +420 495 402 838
e-mail: petr.sichzavinac.gifszpi.gov.cz
JUDr. Petr Šich
 
CAFIA Inspectorate in Brno
Běhounská 10,
601 26 Brno
tel.: +420 542 426 713
e-mail: ivanka.dubenskazavinac.gifszpi.gov.cz
Ms Ivanka Dubenská
 
CAFIA Inspectorate in Olomouc
Pavelkova 13
772 85 Olomouc
tel.: +420 585 151 515
fax: +420  585 230 530
e-mail: frantisek.ovesnyzavinac.gifszpi.gov.cz
Ing. František Ovesný
The applicant will attach all necessary documents to the Application for the Issue of the Certificate (see the List - Application forms to Download) and the Protocol on the Testing from an accredited laboratory (it is not possible to use CAFIA laboratories for the certification within the unregulated sphere).
The authorised CAFIA employee assesses the results, and if they are positive, the certificate issued.

The issue of the certificate is subject to an administrative fee in the meaning of provision § 3 para 3 c) of Act No. 146/2002 Coll., on the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority, as amended.