Export Health Certificate (EHC)

This glossary term is part of the SG Systems Global regulatory & operations guide library.

Updated January 2026 • UK Exports & Trade Compliance • Export Health Certificate (EHC), veterinary/authority certification, consignment identity, destination requirements, seal and condition evidence, document reconciliation, border clearance readiness, traceability continuity • Food & Feed Supply Chain (manufacturing, co-packers, cold stores, exporters, distributors, private label)

Export Health Certificate (EHC) is an official document used for exporting certain animal-origin products (and other regulated consignments) that certifies the goods meet the health and regulatory requirements of the destination country. Operationally, an EHC is not a form you “attach to the shipment.” It is a compliance contract with a clock: the certificate must match the consignment exactly, the consignment must match the certificate physically, and the supporting evidence behind the certificate must be defensible. If any link breaks—product description, quantities, establishment identity, lot codes, seals, temperatures, dispatch dates—your load can be delayed, rejected, or held for investigation.

This matters because exports are fragile. One mismatch can stop a shipment after you’ve already committed delivery windows, cold chain resources, and customer expectations. And even when the product is safe, the export system treats uncertainty as non-compliance because the destination authority cannot validate what they can’t trust. That’s why EHC readiness is fundamentally a traceability and evidence discipline problem: you must be able to prove what is in the consignment, where it came from, how it was handled, and how it maps to the certificate—without reconstructing the story after the truck has left.

Tell it like it is: export failures are often data failures. Businesses lose loads because the “paper truth” and the “pallet truth” drifted apart—last-minute substitutions, mixed pallets without documentation, wrong establishment identity on packaging, inconsistent lot codes, unprovable seal numbers, temperature evidence that can’t be produced. If you run exports as an admin task at the end of shipping, you’ll keep paying the rework tax. If you treat EHC data as part of execution and lock it to the actual load, exports become predictable.

“An EHC is only as strong as the evidence chain behind it. If the chain breaks, the certificate becomes a liability.”

1) What an EHC actually certifies

An EHC certifies that the consignment meets specific health conditions required by the destination market. Operationally, it binds regulatory claims to a specific load and time window. That means the certificate is only valid if it matches what shipped. If the load changes and the certificate doesn’t, the certificate becomes wrong—even if the product is still safe.

Tell it like it is: export certification is brittle by design. That’s why your process must be disciplined.

2) Why EHC errors stop shipments even when product is safe

Export control is about trust. Destination authorities rely on certificate truth because they cannot independently verify the upstream system at the point of entry. So they treat mismatches as non-compliance. Operationally, that means “close enough” is not good enough. A small mismatch can trigger delays because the system can’t determine what’s true.

Tell it like it is: most export failures are not safety failures. They are evidence failures.

3) Critical data elements that must match the load

EHCs are destination-specific, but operationally the same categories cause most problems: product identity and description, quantities and weights, origin and establishment identity, and consignment references. If any of these drift between planning and loading, you get delays.

The takeaway: EHC success is mostly reconciliation discipline.

4) Identity discipline: establishment marks, lots, and handling units

Identity discipline means you can prove which lots are in the consignment, and that the establishment identity on the packs matches what the certificate expects. If pallet IDs and case labels are unstable, export documentation becomes fragile. If relabeling occurs, the old-to-new mapping must be preserved or the consignment becomes untraceable.

Tell it like it is: the fastest way to lose an export is to change the load without changing the evidence.

5) Condition discipline: seals, temperatures, and custody proof

Export consignments often require integrity confidence: seal numbers applied and verified, cold chain evidence preserved, and custody transitions documented. Even when not strictly mandated, these controls reduce disputes and speed acceptance because they prove the load was controlled during movement.

Tell it like it is: when condition proof is missing, authorities assume risk. Your burden becomes heavier.

6) Export dossier: what to have ready before loading

An export dossier is the reconciled evidence pack that binds the EHC to the actual load. Minimum contents:

• EHC draft data aligned to the planned load and destination requirements
• Scan-confirmed pallet/case list with lot codes and quantities
• Establishment identity proof (marks/numbers consistent with packs)
• Seal assignment and verification records
• Temperature logs and alarm handling closure evidence
• Shipment references (BOL/ASN IDs) reconciled to the load
• Internal lot mapping linking consignment identity to inventory records

Tell it like it is: if you can’t produce this dossier quickly, you don’t control export risk—you react to it.

7) Exception handling: substitutions and last-minute changes

Exports fail most often at the last minute: substitutions to hit weights, mixed pallets to fill space, reprints to cover missing labels, and schedule shifts. If you allow these changes, you must treat them as controlled events: update the dossier, preserve mapping, and ensure the certificate matches the final load. Quiet changes create mismatches and delays.

Tell it like it is: exports do not forgive “we’ll fix it later.”

8) Copy/paste EHC readiness scorecard

Use this as a blunt self-check. If several answers are “no,” export delays and rejections will repeat.

The objective is simple: certificate truth equals pallet truth equals system truth.

9) Common failure modes that trigger rejection or delays

Export friction repeats when these patterns persist:

• Inconsistent product descriptions across certificates and commercial docs
• Quantity/weight drift due to late substitutions and short ships
• Wrong establishment identity on packaging or documentation
• Uncontrolled relabel/repack without preserving old-to-new identity mapping
• Seal/temperature uncertainty (no logs or unresolved alarms)
• Evidence scattered across emails and manual folders

Tell it like it is: export failures are usually preventable if you treat documentation as part of execution, not an afterthought.

10) How this maps to V5 by SG Systems Global

V5 supports EHC readiness by making export dossiers executable: scan-confirmed pallet/case capture, controlled lot genealogy, enforced holds and load locking, controlled label/version governance, and rapid retrieval of reconciled evidence packs linking certificate data to the final load. The goal is predictable exports because the system prevents drift between planning and shipping.

Effective support comes from connecting:

• WMS: lot/location truth, pallet/case identity, shipment linkage and load confirmation
• QMS: controlled exceptions, investigations, CAPA, and audit-ready closure
• MES: execution evidence linking lots to packaging runs for genealogy
• Integration: aligning ERP/shipping docs and certificate references to one evidence chain

• Platform overview: V5 Solution Overview
• Inventory + shipping: Warehouse Management System (WMS)
• Quality governance: Quality Management System (QMS)
• Execution evidence: Manufacturing Execution System (MES)
• Integration layer: V5 Connect (API)

Tell it like it is: exports fail when truth drifts. V5 is designed to keep truth locked to the load.

11) Extended FAQ

Q1. Is an EHC required for all exports?
Not for all products. EHC requirements depend on commodity and destination rules. The operational point is: when required, the certificate must match the consignment exactly.

Q2. What causes the most export delays?
Mismatches: quantities/weights, product description drift, establishment identity inconsistencies, and weak seal/temperature evidence.

Q3. Why is “load lock” important?
Because last-minute substitutions create drift between the certificate and the pallet. Locking the load forces controlled change handling.

Q4. What should be kept for audit defence?
The full export dossier: certificate data, pallet/case lists, seal/temperature logs, identity mapping to internal lots, and exception closures.

Q5. How do we stress-test readiness?
Pick a past export and try to rebuild the dossier in minutes using only controlled records. If you need email archaeology, tighten governance and linkage.

Related Reading
Strengthen export reliability with Consignment-Level Traceability, prove integrity with Trailer Seal Verification and Cold Chain Integrity Checks, and keep scope narrow using End-to-End Lot Genealogy plus Label Reconciliation.