On July 16, 2021, the U.S. government (USG) held a meeting with USDEC in which they stated their intention to establish new procedures to comply with the new EU dairy and composite health certificates issued in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/2235 of December 30, 2020 (see Member Alert of January 4, 2021) as of August 21, 2021. Compliance with these certificates will ensure continuity of trade as EU legislation mandates that the current EU dairy and composite certificates may only be issued through August 20.

The implementation of the new EU certificates will require AMS to enhance the current industry certification program. Although details are yet to be confirmed, we can anticipate that initially, AMS will require exporters to verify that the source farms are operating within the requirements of the (a) NCIMS Grade A Dairy Program or (b) AMS Milk for Manufacturing Purposes program. Exporters obtaining EU certificates will be required to maintain records confirming that the farms supplying the manufacturer are part of one of these programs for their AMS Dairy Grading verification audits, and AMS may confirm this information at the same time they check somatic cell count records.

The USG is still reviewing whether any additional requirements may need to be added to the exporter verification program to address the EU's record-keeping requirements. USDEC will update its members as more information is available.

Although we feel confident that the U.S. is working toward compliance with the EU new requirements, please note that this situation is still developing. There are also questions pending clarification, such as whether composite products transiting the EU and all the dairy ingredients incorporated into these goods will be required to originate from EU-approved facilities. USDEC will provide additional details on this question and all other pending items as the USG shares information with us.

Please contact Bryan Jacoby at bjacoby@usdec.org or Sandra Benson at sbenson@usdec.org with any technical questions on the EU certificates, and refer to Volume 2 of the USDEC Export Guide for details on the new certificates.