The EU has introduced amendments to the wording of the Official Veterinary (OV) attestation in the Export Health Certificate (EHC). It is neither realistic nor judicious to expect the EU to change its attestation requirements in the short term.
The new wording requires the OV who is completing the EHC to attest that the horse has been “kept in establishments under official veterinary supervision[1]”…instead of simply “kept in establishments under veterinary supervision”. Only an OV can provide official veterinary supervision.
This new wording has the potential to create an issue when the OV who is completing the EHC (the “certifying OV vet”) is not from the practice where the horse was “registered” 30 days prior to export (e.g. horses sold for export from the sales ring, horses taken to holding yards for pre-export certification etc.). This issue will be exacerbated on the infrequent occasions when the practice where the horse was “registered” 30 days prior to the export (the “home vet” practice) does not have an OV qualified member of staff.
The amendment to the wording of the OV attestation does not have any impact on the EHCs for the return legs of EU to UK to EU temporary movements (e.g. for a race meetings, competitions or sales). Pre-existing systems for attestation are still acceptable in these situations.
A new Defra declaration for the "home (OV) vet" to sign and stamp provides the “certifying (OV) vet” with the assurances required to sign the attestation in the EHC. Although the “certifying (OV) vet” may use alternative means to gain these assurances, the Defra declaration offers a simple and approved format which can be validated with the “home vet’s” official OV stamp.
The OV declaration for the "home vet" may be signed by any OV (this could be anyone holding just the foundation level ES (Essential Skills) qualification). There is no requirement for this OV to hold equine or export qualifications. It is therefore expected that nearly all home practices affected will already have a vet who is qualified to sign and stamp the Defra OV declarations; those practices that don’t have a qualified vet will be able to quickly and easily gain the necessary qualification.
The relevant Notes for Guidance are as follows:
• EHC 8431
• EHC 8433
• EHC 8434
[1] “under official veterinary supervision” requires that the home OV or certifying OV must be satisfied that they are aware of the premises on which the horse has been resident, and that veterinary input is available at this premises should this be needed to investigate diseases of concern (as mentioned in the certificate, which are notifiable in the GB and in the countries that the GB allows imports from).