Industry Safeguards - Regulation - International Trade

VETERINARY CERTIFICATES

Anyone wishing to import or export raw hides or skins will need to obtain a valid veterinary certificate. These should be provided by the veterinary authorities in the country of export.

Therefore, for import into the UK from outside EU a certificate is required that conforms to the format set out in Commission Regulation (EC) No 668/2004 of 10 March 2004 - pages 40-45.

For exports of raw hides and skins from UK veterinary certificates need to be agreed on a country by country basis. Some countries require certificates for the export of leather - import conditions can only be ascertained for certain from the authorities of the importing country. DEFRA has a list of all the export certificates that have been agreed to date. This can be accessed via the following link:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/int-trde/prod-ex/pdf/certlist.pdf

PRODUCT CLASSIFICATION

For international trade, all products are classified under the EU "Combined Nomenclature", which follows the internally agreed harmonised system of tariff nomenclature. Hides, skins and leather are classified under the Official Journal of the European Community (23.10.2001) Chapter 41 - Raw hides and skins (other than furskins) and leather.