On December 30, 2020, the European Union (EU) published Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2235(Regulation 2020/2235), which includes the approved regulatory framework and accompanying dairy, colostrum and composite health and transit certificates, finalizing the draft legislation that was previously proposed and notified to the WTO through G/SPS/N/EU/401 and posted to the Have Your Say website.  The new legislation is scheduled to enter into force on October 20, 2021. When implemented, these certificates are intended to replace the dairy, colostrum, and composite certificates now in use for goods entering and transiting through the EU.

As noted in USDEC's Member Alert of October 19 (revised October 26) on this topic, the certificates contain significant new animal health attestations, some of which do not fully align with U.S. regulatory practice. The final version of Regulation 2020/2235 addresses two of USDEC's top concerns with the draft legislation:

1. The requirement for the certificate to accompany the shipment to the border control post (BCP) in the draft legislation is removed. Article 5 was revised to require the certificate to accompany consignments within the Union or between member states in point e, but point f in the final legislation now allows the certificate to be presented to the competent authority of the BCP for imported goods.
2. The implementation date for the new certificates was moved from April 21, 2021 to October 20, 2021, as long as the certificate is signed before August 21, 2021.

While these developments are positive, many of the concerns that the U.S. government (USG) and USDEC both raised in submitted comments remain in the final versions of the certificates, including:

1. Attestation confirming that the cow is domiciled in the zone of milking (likely the U.S.) for 3 months prior to milking; and
2. Attestations confirming animal health monitoring that differs from U.S. regulatory requirements.

USDEC has continuously stressed to the USG the importance of the EU market to the U.S. dairy industry and will continued work with the USG to ensure all steps possible to ensure continuity of trade are taken. Although the EU has published what they intend to be the final version of the certificates, the USG continues to discuss their content with the European Commission and governments of other third countries with shared concerns to address outstanding issues in order to avoid any trade disruption. We will advise members as soon as we have more information on the feasibility of USG endorsement of the new certificates.

Please contact Sandra Benson at sbenson@usdec.org or Bryan Jacoby at bjacoby@usdec.org with any questions.