Shipping document
The phytosanitary certificate, and who needs one
A phytosanitary certificate is issued by the exporting country's plant health authority and states that the consignment was inspected against the importing country's requirements. Which consignments need one is decided by the border being crossed rather than by the fruit, so the same pallet may need one or not depending on where it goes.
The figures
| Who issues it | The plant health authority of the exporting country |
|---|---|
| What it certifies | Inspection against the importing country's requirements |
| What decides the need | The destination, not the produce |
What it changes on an order
You buy within the single market
Movement inside the EU generally does not call for one, and a supplier offering it may be answering a question you did not ask.
You buy for export beyond the EU
Requirements differ by destination and change, so it is arranged against the import rules in force at the time.
You are planning a loading date
Inspection takes time and happens before departure. A certificate cannot be produced after the lorry has gone.
What this note does not settle
- We have not exported outside the single market and have no standing arrangement for these certificates. This is background, not a service we offer.
- Import requirements are set by the destination and change. Verify the current rules for your route rather than relying on a general description.
Source: Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 on protective measures against pests of plants
Why an intra-Union load arrives without one
A buyer inside the Union who asks a Spanish packhouse for a phytosanitary certificate is told there is not one, and it sounds evasive. It is not. Plant health inside the single market runs on a different instrument from the one that governs fruit crossing the Union border, and the border instrument is the one whose name everybody knows.
The practical consequence is worth understanding before you write a supplier questionnaire. A requirement copied from a third country supply chain into a Spanish one asks for a document that the shipment structurally cannot have, and the grower who answers honestly looks worse than the one who sends something that resembles it.
The moment it starts to matter is before loading
Where a certificate is genuinely required, it is issued by a public authority on inspection, and inspection happens to fruit that is still in the country it is leaving. A load already on a lorry in another member state cannot be certified retrospectively.
So the question to ask is not what documents will come with the pallets. It is where the fruit ends up. If any part of your programme leaves the Union, say so when the order is discussed, because that fact changes what has to happen in the packhouse days before the truck is loaded. We have no confirmed experience of supplying outside the Union, and that is something to establish rather than assume.
Talk to the grower
Tell us the variety, the sizes and the delivery week you need. You get a delivered price and what we can commit to in writing, from the person who picks the fruit.
The grower handles enquiries. Response times are still to be confirmed.