Modules available in TRACES
The TRACES platform is divided into modules which accommodate different workflows designed for the issuance of certain official certificates and documents that are required on the basis of EU rules on the sanitary and phytosanitary policy area. This area is under the competence of DG SANTE. Over the recent years, TRACES has expanded to other policy areas in order to accommodate additional certification schemes and modules supporting the needs of other Directorates-General (DG AGRI, DG ENV, DG MARE, DG TAXUD). Further information about each module can be found under the respective headings.
Used at EU level by operators and border control authorities; the issuance of CHEDs in TRACES or in connection with TRACES is mandatory by EU legislation.
Initiation by operators - The economic operator responsible for the consignment in the EU pre-notifies the arrival of the consignment by completing Part I of the CHED, to be submitted to the Border Control Post of entry into the EU.
Authority decision - The Border Control Post of entry into the EU processes Part II of the CHED. Where necessary, an iRASFF notification is submitted via a link provided in TRACES to the respective platform.
Follow-up - The authority of the country of final destination records in Part III of the CHED the checks performed at destination, confirming arrival of consignment or the measures taken on the basis of the authority’s decision.
NB: There are different Common Health Entry Documents depending on the type of consignment presented for checks:
- CHED-A for consignments of live animals;
- CHED-P for consignments of products of animal origin, germinal products, animal by-products and derived products, composite products, and hay and straw;
- CHED-PP for consignments of plants, plant products and other objects;
- CHED-D for consignments of food and feed of non-animal origin.
Commodities concerned: animals, germinal products, certain products of animal origin and animal by-products moved between Member States or in transit through Member States before leaving the Union.
Initiation by operators - The economic operator prepares Part I of the official certificate (INTRA) describing the consignment to be submitted to the authority of the country of dispatch.
Authority decision - The authority of the country of dispatch processes Part II of the official certificate attesting the health requirements and validates or rejects it.
Controls - Where performed, the authority of the country of destination or transit records the controls performed on the consignment on Part III – Follow-up of the official certificate.
The use of TRACES for exchanging journey log is established by Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 of 22 December 2004. It is used at an EU level for movements of animals subject to welfare rules where the estimated journey time is more than 8 hours.The journey log accompanies the animals during the journey until the point of destination or, in case of export to a third country, at least until the point where the animals exit the EU.
Commodities concerned: live animals subject to animal welfare rules (e.g., horses, cattle, sheep, goats, or pigs).
Initiation by operators - The organiser (as outlined in Art.2(q)) prepares Section 1 and 2 of the AJL describing the consignment and the transport conditions. This is to be submitted to the competent authority of the country of dispatch. The driver of the consignment (and the transporter) may complete and sign Section 4 of the AJL, which shall be made available to the competent authority upon completion.
Authority decision - The competent authority of the country of dispatch may countersign Section 2 of the journey log attesting the transport requirements have been met.
Controls - The competent authority of the country of destination or transit (in case of export) can record any controls performed on the consignment either Section 3 and/or Section 5 of the journey log.
Used to accompany consignments of animal by-products in accordance with the obligations set out in Regulation (EC) No 1069/2009.
Commodities concerned: animal by-products/ derived products not intended for human consumption by-products moved between Member States.
The economic operator of the place of origin completes Part I and II of the Commercial Document (DOCOM) describing the consignment.
Used by non-EU countries on a voluntary basis.
Commodities concerned:
- live nimals, products of animal origin, germinal products, animal by-products and derived products, composite products, hay, and straw.
- certain food and feed of non-animal origin originating in non-EU countries listed in Annex II to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1793.
Initiation by operators - The non-EU operator completes Part I of the official certificate (IMPORT) describing the consignment to be submitted for decision to the non-EU authority.
Authority decision - The authority of the non-EU country of dispatch processes Part II of the official certificate attesting the health requirements and validates or rejects it.
Commodities concerned: live animals and certain animal products.
Initiation by operators - The economic operator completes Part I of the export certificate describing the consignment to be submitted to the authority of the country of dispatch.
Authority decision - The authority of the country of dispatch processes Part II of the export certificate.
Only export certificates negotiated between EU and non-EU countries concerning certain animals and animal products are available in TRACES. Export certificates agreed bilaterally are not implemented in TRACES.
Commodities concerned: plants, plant products and other objects.
Connection with the IPPC ePhyto Hub was established in May 2020, which allows the exchange of data between TRACES and non-EU countries, streamlining data exchange between different operators. Consequently, the PHYTO module accommodates two tabs, one for PHYTO certificates and another for the IPPC ePhyto certificates. For further information, please see our Trade in plants & plant products from non-EU countries section of the website.
Phytosanitary certificates for imports into the EU
Used by non-EU countries on a voluntary basis.
Initiation by operators - The non-EU economic operator completes Part I of the phytosanitary certificate (PHYTO) describing the consignment to be submitted for decision to the non-EU authority.
Authority decision - The authority of the non-EU country of dispatch processes Part II of the phytosanitary certificate attesting the plant health requirements and validates or rejects it.
Phytosanitary certificates for exports from the EU
Used by EU Member States on a voluntary basis.
The module allows operators and authorities to issue phytosanitary certificate for export directly in the TRACES platform.
Initiation by operators - The EU economic operator completes Part I of the phytosanitary certificate (PHYTO) describing the consignment to be submitted for decision to the EU authority.
Authority decision - The EU authority of dispatch processes Part II of the phytosanitary certificate attesting the plant health requirements and validates or rejects it.
The Establishment Amendments Lists module of TRACES allows non-EU countries to update in TRACES their lists of establishments authorised to export to the EU. The non-EU designated contact persons managing this task must be registered users in TRACES and linked to their authorities’ National Contact Point (NCP) profile. The workflow entails that the non-EU NCP users draft and submit lists of amendments for the update of the relevant lists of establishments authorised to export to the EU (i.e., for the addition of new establishments and the update or deletion of existing ones). Then, the European Commission proceeds with the examination of the submitted list. In case this list needs certain modifications (e.g., due to the encoding of wrong data or the request for further documentation) before being published, the list may be returned to relevant authority for revision. Further information on the technical workflow of this module can be found on the Non-EU countries authorised establishments webpage.
Modules of other Directorates-General integrated in or interconnected to TRACES
DG AGRI policy areas
All organic products imported into the EU must have the appropriate electronic certificate of inspection (e-COI).
These are administered through TRACES as part of the common health entry document (CHED). In case of:
- EU Member States: certificates are issued by the control bodies designated by the countries' national authorities.
- non-EU countries: the certificates are issued by the control bodies designated by the EU.
If an organic product does not have an electronic certificate of inspection, it will not be released from the port of arrival to the EU.
Mandatory for all organic operators referred to in Art. 36 of Regulation (EU) 2018/848 who produce, prepare, distribute, or store organic or in-conversion products, which are to be:
- imported from a third country;
- exported to a third country;
- or which are to be placed in the internal market.
Used by non-EU countries on a voluntary basis.
Commodities concerned: timber and timber products.
Initiation by non- EU countries - A Voluntary Partner Agreement (VPA) should be drawn up between the non-EU country and the EU. This involves several multistakeholder processes that aim to improve forest governance, promote legal trade, and develop schemes to contribute to social and environmental goals.
Authority decision – After a joint independent assessment, confirmed by the EU and the VPA partner, the FLEGT licensing can begin by licensing authorities of the partner country. Licence is issued only for shipments that are listed in the VPA annex on product scope and are to enter the EU market, providing the VPA country’s timber legality assurance system has confirmed the products are legally harvested.
Controls – The partner country’s timber legality assurance system includes supply chain controls to prevent mixing of legal and illegal products.
The use of TRACES for exchanging electronic documents under Regulation 1013/2006/EC on shipments of waste (WSR) is not mandatory. The version of the EDI (Electronic data Interchange) for WSR which is available in TRACES consists of exchanging only non-structured documents (mainly PDF) relevant to the regulation.
Commodities concerned: hazardous waste.
Initiation by Competent Authorities - The competent authority of dispatch submits the notification on behalf of the economic operator (notifier) and provides the list of competent authorities involved in the notification.
Authority decision - Every competent authority involved in the notification provides their decision about the notification.
Other stakeholders - Notifiers, carriers and treatment facilities can follow the status of the notifications if the authorities authorize it.
NB: a full-fledge system will be developed under the revised version of the WSR regulation and will enter into operation 2 years after the entry into force (as a mandatory scheme).
Used by EU and non-EU countries, representing 183 parties of the convention.
Commodities concerned: specimens of wild animals and plants threatened for their survival.
Initiation by any countries which are parties of the CITES convention (EU and non-EU) - At the request of applicants, Management Authorities in those countries can issue different types of documents for trade to and from the EU, such as, import permit, export permit, re-export certificates or an import notification form. In addition, the EU Management Authority can issue certificates for internal trade inside the EU.
Decision of Management & scientific Authorities – Every permit or certificate application is reviewed by Management (and, when required, also by Scientific) Authorities before their issuance. Once available, permits and certificates can be used to import, export or re-export the specimens.
Controls – Customs authorities are entitled to performed checks on the permits & certificates validity and on the traded specimens. Due to the European Single Market and the absence of systematic border controls within the EU, the provisions of the CITES Convention is implemented uniformly in all EU Member States.
Commodities concerned: fishery products (under Chapter 03 and Tariff headings 1604 and 1605).
The use of TRACES for submission of electronic catch certificates is established by Council Regulation (EC) No 1005/2008 (as last amended). At EU level, the use of CATCH for the submission of catch certificates and related documents will become compulsory from 10 January 2026. It will be used by non-EU countries on a voluntary basis to create and validate catch certificates and related documents. Further information on CATCH can be found at DG MARE’s Illegal fishing webpage.
TRACES is interconnected with EU CSW-CERTEX to connect EU Member States’ import, export and transit systems with EU non-customs systems handling non-customs formalities. Due to this connection, customs and sanitary-phytosanitary authorities can in real time, automatically exchange information on health checks and several other non-customs formalities (such as COI or FLEGT licenses). Under Regulation (EU) 2022/2399 establishing the European Union Single Window Environment for Customs, all EU Member States need to be connected to EU CSW-CERTEX by 3 March 2025 for checks on CHED documents, COI certificates and import of cultural goods documents to enable the automated verification of non-customs documents upon customs clearance.
Commodities concerned: cultural objects that were created or discovered in a third country, which are of importance for archaeology, prehistory, history, literature, art, or science and which belong to the categories listed in the Annex of Regulation (EU) 2019/880.
Import licences, importer statements and general descriptions will be processed and submitted to customs through TRACES. This module is foreseen to become operational by 28 June 2025.
Other features and interfaces
Establishment Listings
TRACES manages the list of EU establishments and operators approved by Member States’ authorities. The lists are available to the users of TRACES with a simple search function for faster results and the data is synchronised in real time with the data available in the main operators’ menu of TRACES.
The lists can be accessed directly from the "Publications" tab of the TRACES platform or by using the following links:
BOVEX
BOVEX is a web-service linked to TRACES which allows for the automatic exchange of identification data of bovine animals across the different national databases connected to it.
The objective is to digitise the data, save time and avoid errors while introducing the data into national databases upon reception of cattle. The list of Member States exchanging identification document data through BOVEX is the following:
Belgium, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Spain