General certificates

These general certificates are intended for exports of foodstuffs for human consumption from Belgium to various third countries, with the exception of food that present a veterinary or phytosanitary risk. A general certificate for these commodities is created by the FASFC and is based on European/Belgian legislation.

If there is no country-specific certificate model, a non-negotiated country-specific certificate or no specific requirements under "Certificates and company lists by country", this means that the FASFC is not aware of the requirements of this third country for the certification of the products in question. Where applicable, the general certificate may be issued at the exporter's risk. The operator must always verify that the certificate model that will be used complies with the requirements of the competent government of the third country of destination. For this purpose, the Belgian operator may contact the competent authority of the third country, for example via his potential customer or regional export promotion organisations. If the third country of destination has more specific requirements, the operator must submit it to the certifying agent so that a country-specific certificate can be drawn up.

Foodstuff discussed on these pages are generally considered as low risk commodities but a third country can require specific phytosanitary or sanitary guarantees to be certified.

The certificates are composed of 2 parts:

• the first part is the declaration of the exporter and an annex with additional information regarding the products;
• the second part is the declaration of the competent authority.

Both parts of the certificate include a box for additional declarations; the content of these boxes will be determined by the specific requirements of the importing country.

The FASFC, as the competent authority, will only sign and stamp the second part of this certificate.  The exporter is fully responsible for the first part and the annex and any additional information added to this annex.

Certificate for registration of (a) product(s) (= free sale certificate)

A certificate for registration of a product (= free sale certificate) is a certificate intended for a third country that indicates that a product may be freely traded in Belgium or that it may be exported insofar as the third country permits import.