Sanitary and Phytosanitary & Veterinary regulation

In this part of the CEFTA Web Portal you will find the most important sanitary, phytosanitary and veterinary control procedures to be followed for each CEFTA Economy. The information about the control procedures includes but is not limited to: 1.The location of sanitary, phytosanitary and/or veterinary control offices including working hours in each office; 2.A description of sanitary, phytosanitary and/or veterinary procedures; 3.The documents asked by the respective authorities in order to obtain approval for entering, transiting or exiting the territory of the respective CEFTA Economy; 4.The officially approved documents issued by the respective authorities; 5.A description of the official procedures for sampling. In cases where the final destination of goods is one of the CEFTA Economies included in this web portal, please refer to the sanitary, phytosanitary and/or veterinary import procedures of that Economy. In case your goods exit the territory of one of the CEFTA Economies included in this web portal, please refer to the sanitary, phytosanitary and/or veterinary export procedures relevant to that Economy.




What is subjected to the Phytosanitary Inspection

The products subject to the regime of permits for export and import are listed in the Decision on Classification of Goods onto export and import regimes (Decision in local language (P2M2B1.4  (“Official Gazette of BiH”, No. 22/98). The products pertaining to plant health protection are listed in Annex 1 of the Amendment of this Decision (“Official Gazette of BiH”, No. 29/05) – List of goods for reproduction and protection of animals and plants (see the Decision on link on Licenses)

Laws and Regulations


The area of protection of the health of plants, as well as international and internal trade of plants and products for its protection is regulated by the following laws: Law on Protection of Plant Health (“Official Gazette of BiH”, No. 23/03), Law on Phyto-pharmaceutical Products (P2M3.2B1.6 Zakon o fitofarmaceutskim proizvodima.pdf) (“Official Gazette of BiH”, No. 49/04), Law on Mineral Fertilisers (“Official Gazette of BiH”, No. 46/04), Law on Seeds and Planting Material of Agricultural Plants in BiH  (“Official Gazette of BiH”, No. 03/05), Law on Protection of Plant Species in BiH (“Official Gazette of BiH”, No. 14/10).

Where is Phytosanitary Inspection Conducted


The examination of the shipment for the purpose of determining plant health shall be conducted at border crossings or places of customs clearance of goods. The competent border inspector, for the purpose of checking plant health being imported has a right to sample the goods and send samples to examination to the authorized laboratories.

Special conditions for importers and exporters

For goods that pursuant to the phytosanitary regulations require international verification (certificate) on health validity and quality, the shipments have to be followed by the prescribed international verification (certificate) on health validity and quality.

Seeds and planting material

The Law on Seeds and Planting Material of Agricultural Plants prescribes the conditions for their production, preparation for placement on the market, import and placement on the market. Based on this law only those business subjects that are entered into the registries of suppliers, kept by the ministries of agriculture of entities and department in Brcko District, in accordance with their rulebooks can work in this line of business in BiH. The import of seeds and planting material can be conducted only by the supplier that is registered in the registry for the import of given type of agricultural plant (importer). The registered importer first files the request for consent for import of seeds and/or planting material to the competent ministry of agriculture of the entity (per seat of the importer) in accordance with prescribed procedure. These procedures differ somewhat, thus it is required to contact relevant entity body related to the documents required to be enclosed, as well as information on administrative fees. Upon obtaining the consent, it is required to file the request to the Administration of BiH for Plant Health Protection (Administration) for import based on the following form which can be found at the web site of the Administration (www.uzzb.gov.ba). Besides the permit for import of seeds and planting material for agricultural production, it is required to have certificate of quality issued by the authorized body of the economy of origin, as well as the certificate that the specific type is enlisted into the types (species) list (of the entity).

Plant health protection products


In BiH, only the person registered to work in imports and activities related to the plant protection products can perform the imports and placement on the market of the plant protection products. At every import, the importer (distributor or representative) must file the request for consent to import and request for authorization for placement onto domestic market of a given product. The request is filed in written form to the competent ministry of agriculture of the entity (according to the seat of the importer) per prescribed procedure and on prescribed form. The procedures differ to certain extent and it is required to contact the competent institution. As an illustrative example here are given the form of the request for consent to import and form of the request for authorization for placement onto domestic market of the competent ministry in the Federation of BiH. In the request the information is given on the product (tariff number, trade name, active substance, manner of use etc.), quantity imported, value of goods and border crossing for entry of goods and control, as well as the pro form invoice. With the request it is required to submit all documentation as evidence of fulfillment of the aforementioned conditions, including the evidence on professional and technical capacities to perform these activities. Based on Article 12 of the Law on Phyto-Pharmaceutical Products in BiH, the import of products prohibited in producer’s economy and in EU shall be prohibited. The Administration monitors and regularly updates the list of prohibited products in EU and this information can be found at web site of the Administration.

The Ministries of Agriculture are competent only for the import and trade of the products used in primary agricultural production. For imports of the poisons for public and communal hygiene and similar products not used in agriculture, ministries of health of the entities are competent for issuing the decisions.

Upon obtaining this consent and approval it is required to file the request for imports to the Administration of BiH for Plant Health Protection based on the following form which can be found at the web site of the Administration.

Mineral fertilizers

The usage and trade of mineral fertilizers is regulated by the Law on Mineral Fertilizers and Rulebook on conditions for placement on the market, quality and quality control of mineral fertilizers and their storage. Articles 24-27 of this rulebook prescribe imports procedure.

The importer is obliged to file the request for mandatory control of shipments at aforementioned point of entry to the phytosanitary inspector of the entity (according to the location of the entry point). The importer is obliged to have the import permit, which, upon the request of the importer is issued by the Administration and the request is to be filed on the form which can be found on the web site of the Administration, and enclose certificate of quality. Instead of the license, it is possible to enclose the evidence that the fertilizer has the mark “EC Fertilizer”.

Mercantile products

Certain mercantile products are subject to mandatory control at the border as well, by phytosanitary inspector and according to the list in Annex 1, of the Decision on Classification of Goods onto the regimes of import and export. The request for mandatory control is to be filed to the competent entity inspection body according to the location of the border crossing.

Wooden packaging material


Based on the Law on Protection of Plant Health and in accordance with ISPM-15 standard IPPC, the Administration of BiH for Plant Health Protection issued the Rulebook on phytosanitary requests for wooden packaging material in international trade. It prescribes the procedures of treatment and marking of the wooden packaging material; the conditions that must be fulfilled by legal entities and physical persons applying procedures of treatment and marking wooden material for packaging and procedure of their registration; professional, spatial and technical conditions that must be met by the legal entities for performance of official check and confirmation of fulfillment of conditions for treatment and/or marking of wooden packaging material; phyto-sanitary examination and inspection monitoring.

The thermal treatment and treatment with methyl bromide is permitted and pertains to the materials with thickness exceeding 15 mm. This rulebook further prescribes the appearance of the official mark that the material must be marked with prior to its use. The Administration further, keeps the records of producers in BiH which are engaged in wooden material treatment.

Contact


Administration for Plant Health Protection
Radićeva 871000 Sarajevo
Tel/Fax: +387(0)33/212-387
E-mail: upravabihzzb@bih.net.ba

For the additional information related to the procedures described above, besides the Administration, it is required to contact the ministries of agriculture of the entities and department of Brcko District, as well as the entity inspection administrations.