CLIENT Export commenced with extensive interviews at exporting companies.
In this way, the point of view of the companies was used to review the processes and requirements of the authorities.

Tjeerd:”We invited some exporters, and together with them, we made sure the real problems are mentioned and submitted in the Client system. We made sure that all of us will get a properly working sytem that’s suitable for business users.

In these interviews we focussed on two important themes:

Firstly: the process of requesting and issuing an export certificate by the Dutch authorities. How do inspections take place?
Where are bottlenecks and what can be improved?

Secondly: The complete export procedure for products and the receiving countries.
What other procedures take place and what can be improved?
Are there opportunities for improving the complete process?

This is a veterinary export certificate. Each product-country combination has it’s own model. The certificate shows all the requirements consignments should meet to be accepted. In order to confirm this, The Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority needs safeguards for all requirements such as country statements, inspections or third party declarations.

The certificate shows many details of the consigment’s content. A phytosanitary certificate does not show specific requirements. These requirements however, do exist, are based on legislation, and are the basis for inspection by the Plant Protection Service.

The Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority or the Plant Protection Service together with the Inspection Services check if all requirements are met, after which a certificate is issued or certified.

There are many variations in export certification for different products. However, general improvements can be made in all area’s, based on the principles of ‘smarter inspections’ and ‘smarter communication’.

More and more companies use their own quality systems.

Jan v/s Sijs:”The Dairy sector already relies partly on other safeguards than inspections. Many companies and processes are certified, and we use these safeguards and garantees extensively.”

More and more companies would like their quality systems to be supervised and recognised by the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority or the Plant Protection Service. In this way company inspections can replace inspections of consignments as much as possible.

Another way of ‘smarter inspections’ is the reuse of existing inspection data.

Marjan:”In some sectors many inspections are executed earlier in the production process by inspection services. If inspections are already carried out, a safeguard is available, it’s not necessary to reinspect just before exporting.”

A third method for ‘smarter inspection’ is to create a direct connection to existing information systems.

When exporting live cattle the exporter has to show an ‘animal passport’ for the requirement ‘born and bred’, in the form of a print from the Identification and Registration-system. This paper is then inspected by the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. This procedure can be simplified by automatically retrieving this safeguard from the system.

The CLIENT system is set up to receive and combine all these different inspections and safeguards. In this way, work will be reduced in two ways: the authorities can bypass, or reduce inspections on processes already safeguarded; and the exporter does not have to present the same data over and over again.

In a central system data is registered once at the source. In this way the exporting party is responsible for complete and accurate destination data, while the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority and the Plant Protection Service take care of their part of the process.

Data can then be separated into a part for inspection (or to determine if an inspection is necessary) and a part with information that should appear on the certificate.

Jan vd Sijs:”this means that exporters, or even producers, can make changes in the data relating to a consignment much later in the process, and that these changes can still be included in the final certificate.”

Requirements for ‘smarter communication’ do vary per sector.

Jan Lanning:”We can deliver our flowers throughout the world within 24 hours, but this requires a quick run time of both the product and the documentation on import and export.”

The logistic process for cut flowers consists of: consignment data which is available at seven thirty, the consignment and its data available at nine, inspection at eleven, and the final certificate ready at two o’clock.
Export of live cattle however can take months. The animals are selected and inspection takes place to ensure that requirements are met; the animals will then go to a specific export stable, where inspection takes place for other requirements. Only then an export certificate is requested.

In veterinary sectors requirements are explicitly listed on the certificate. If requirements change, for example if blue tongue is detected, all paper certificates need to be reproduced with new information. So a modified certicate may be available weeks later.

Currently many certificates are available as pre printed papers. To reduce fraud a costly process of the administration of commercial paper is necessary. A supporting digital system can make these costly stacks of paper redundant.

New Zealand has been using a support system for export certification that offers electronic certificates to ‘third countries’ for several years. The best elements of this system are the basis of Client.

In Client
- certificate model is registered per product-land-combination;- requirements for every certificate are made available;
- the certifying authority can register which safeguards (such as country statements, certifications and external inspections) can apply for each requirement;
- the certifying proces is adjusted to the logistic process;
- and companies apply themselves for certificates and enter the required information.

Obtaining an export certificate is only one of the procedures an exporting company has to achieve from the authorities.
Let’s look at an avarage procedure:

A 'Declaration to Export' at the Tax collectors office or customs office is mandatory for any consignment.

For agricultural products an export certificate is usually required, in which the Dutch veterinary or phytosanitary authority certifies that the consignment meets the requirements set by the importing country.

Reports of inspection services, laboratories or health services are often required by the verterinary or phytosanitary authority, to prove that a requirement is met.

Sometimes these authorities also supply notifications demanded by the importing country, for example radio-activity or dioxin statements or declarations about the product composition.

For some products export rebates are available within the Common Agricultutal Policy. In the Netherlands the Product Boards are responsible for executing these procedures.
If an export rebate is applied for, additional customs procedures are often necessary, in order to guarantee that these products have indeed left the European Union.

Frequently a Certificate of Origin is requested, issued by the Chambers of Commerce.

The wild variety of some products, such as flower bulbs, can appear on the CITES-list of protected plant and animal species. Then, a CITES-report is required, confirming that the species in the consignment is cultivated.
Sometimes the importing country demands additional procedures in the Netherlands. This can include a pre-shipment inspection, such as an inspection of flower bulbs destined to the United States by a US-official. It could also be about certifying Dutch documents by the embassy of the importing country in the Netherlands.

Additional processes in the bussiness domain require the same information relating to the consignment.

Transport by sea requires a ‘Bill of Lading’, transport by air an ‘Air Way Bill’.

In the financial world a ‘Letter of Credit’ is often requested for safeguards about payments.

Recapitulating, there are many processes and procedures for the exporting party, where the same information is requested, in other formats in different forms and at different office windows.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has started a programme that will optimize the total set of export processes.

Two elements of Client will ensure that this system will easily connect to the total of export processes:
Data required by Chambers of Commerce, Product Boards and Customs, the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority and the Plant Protection Service, will be harmonized.

Fredrik:”Our team has worked for months and reduced the total data set from 1200 elements to 200. Well, that is an enourmous profit for companies and a huge simplification for the requested information.”

Access to Client (by means of company identification and employee authentication) will be developed to ensure relationship with other export procedures.

So, Client Export will improve the inspection processes of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.
Applying for certificates will be better incorporated into the logistics of exporting companies.
And the complete export process will become more coherent.

In addition, the importing country can also benefit from the system.

Joost:”One problem with a paper system is that we issue it to a company, and after a few weeks it reappears for the use by another competent authority at a Third Country. And what happens with these papers in the weeks in between, well, we don’t know…”

Marjan:”If we transfer to a digital environment, no paper is available, so there’s nothing to compromise.”

Joost;”There’s direct communication between national authorities, known as ‘first-hand information’, and this reduces risks substantially.”

The Client programme will deliver higher quality export certificates, with less chance of errors in the production process. This will contribute to the reputation of the Netherlands as a major exporting country.

CLIENT Export commenced with extensive interviews at exporting companies.
In this way, the point of view of the companies was used to review the processes and requirements of the authorities.

Tjeerd:”We invited some exporters, and together with them, we made sure the real problems are mentioned and submitted in the Client system. We made sure that all of us will get a properly working sytem that’s suitable for business users.

In these interviews we focussed on two important themes:

Firstly: the process of requesting and issuing an export certificate by the Dutch authorities. How do inspections take place?
Where are bottlenecks and what can be improved?

Secondly: The complete export procedure for products and the receiving countries.
What other procedures take place and what can be improved?
Are there opportunities for improving the complete process?

This is a veterinary export certificate. Each product-country combination has it’s own model. The certificate shows all the requirements consignments should meet to be accepted. In order to confirm this, The Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority needs safeguards for all requirements such as country statements, inspections or third party declarations.

The certificate shows many details of the consigment’s content. A phytosanitary certificate does not show specific requirements. These requirements however, do exist, are based on legislation, and are the basis for inspection by the Plant Protection Service.

The Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority or the Plant Protection Service together with the Inspection Services check if all requirements are met, after which a certificate is issued or certified.

There are many variations in export certification for different products. However, general improvements can be made in all area’s, based on the principles of ‘smarter inspections’ and ‘smarter communication’.

More and more companies use their own quality systems.

Jan v/s Sijs:”The Dairy sector already relies partly on other safeguards than inspections. Many companies and processes are certified, and we use these safeguards and garantees extensively.”

More and more companies would like their quality systems to be supervised and recognised by the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority or the Plant Protection Service. In this way company inspections can replace inspections of consignments as much as possible.

Another way of ‘smarter inspections’ is the reuse of existing inspection data.

Marjan:”In some sectors many inspections are executed earlier in the production process by inspection services. If inspections are already carried out, a safeguard is available, it’s not necessary to reinspect just before exporting.”

A third method for ‘smarter inspection’ is to create a direct connection to existing information systems.

When exporting live cattle the exporter has to show an ‘animal passport’ for the requirement ‘born and bred’, in the form of a print from the Identification and Registration-system. This paper is then inspected by the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority. This procedure can be simplified by automatically retrieving this safeguard from the system.

The CLIENT system is set up to receive and combine all these different inspections and safeguards. In this way, work will be reduced in two ways: the authorities can bypass, or reduce inspections on processes already safeguarded; and the exporter does not have to present the same data over and over again.

In a central system data is registered once at the source. In this way the exporting party is responsible for complete and accurate destination data, while the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority and the Plant Protection Service take care of their part of the process.

Data can then be separated into a part for inspection (or to determine if an inspection is necessary) and a part with information that should appear on the certificate.

Jan vd Sijs:”this means that exporters, or even producers, can make changes in the data relating to a consignment much later in the process, and that these changes can still be included in the final certificate.”

Requirements for ‘smarter communication’ do vary per sector.

Jan Lanning:”We can deliver our flowers throughout the world within 24 hours, but this requires a quick run time of both the product and the documentation on import and export.”

The logistic process for cut flowers consists of: consignment data which is available at seven thirty, the consignment and its data available at nine, inspection at eleven, and the final certificate ready at two o’clock.
Export of live cattle however can take months. The animals are selected and inspection takes place to ensure that requirements are met; the animals will then go to a specific export stable, where inspection takes place for other requirements. Only then an export certificate is requested.

In veterinary sectors requirements are explicitly listed on the certificate. If requirements change, for example if blue tongue is detected, all paper certificates need to be reproduced with new information. So a modified certicate may be available weeks later.

Currently many certificates are available as pre printed papers. To reduce fraud a costly process of the administration of commercial paper is necessary. A supporting digital system can make these costly stacks of paper redundant.

New Zealand has been using a support system for export certification that offers electronic certificates to ‘third countries’ for several years. The best elements of this system are the basis of Client.

In Client
- certificate model is registered per product-land-combination;- requirements for every certificate are made available;
- the certifying authority can register which safeguards (such as country statements, certifications and external inspections) can apply for each requirement;
- the certifying proces is adjusted to the logistic process;
- and companies apply themselves for certificates and enter the required information.

Obtaining an export certificate is only one of the procedures an exporting company has to achieve from the authorities.
Let’s look at an avarage procedure:

A 'Declaration to Export' at the Tax collectors office or customs office is mandatory for any consignment.

For agricultural products an export certificate is usually required, in which the Dutch veterinary or phytosanitary authority certifies that the consignment meets the requirements set by the importing country.

Reports of inspection services, laboratories or health services are often required by the verterinary or phytosanitary authority, to prove that a requirement is met.

Sometimes these authorities also supply notifications demanded by the importing country, for example radio-activity or dioxin statements or declarations about the product composition.

For some products export rebates are available within the Common Agricultutal Policy. In the Netherlands the Product Boards are responsible for executing these procedures.
If an export rebate is applied for, additional customs procedures are often necessary, in order to guarantee that these products have indeed left the European Union.

Frequently a Certificate of Origin is requested, issued by the Chambers of Commerce.

The wild variety of some products, such as flower bulbs, can appear on the CITES-list of protected plant and animal species. Then, a CITES-report is required, confirming that the species in the consignment is cultivated.
Sometimes the importing country demands additional procedures in the Netherlands. This can include a pre-shipment inspection, such as an inspection of flower bulbs destined to the United States by a US-official. It could also be about certifying Dutch documents by the embassy of the importing country in the Netherlands.

Additional processes in the bussiness domain require the same information relating to the consignment.

Transport by sea requires a ‘Bill of Lading’, transport by air an ‘Air Way Bill’.

In the financial world a ‘Letter of Credit’ is often requested for safeguards about payments.

Recapitulating, there are many processes and procedures for the exporting party, where the same information is requested, in other formats in different forms and at different office windows.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs has started a programme that will optimize the total set of export processes.

Two elements of Client will ensure that this system will easily connect to the total of export processes:
Data required by Chambers of Commerce, Product Boards and Customs, the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority and the Plant Protection Service, will be harmonized.

Fredrik:”Our team has worked for months and reduced the total data set from 1200 elements to 200. Well, that is an enourmous profit for companies and a huge simplification for the requested information.”

Access to Client (by means of company identification and employee authentication) will be developed to ensure relationship with other export procedures.

So, Client Export will improve the inspection processes of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.
Applying for certificates will be better incorporated into the logistics of exporting companies.
And the complete export process will become more coherent.

In addition, the importing country can also benefit from the system.

Joost:”One problem with a paper system is that we issue it to a company, and after a few weeks it reappears for the use by another competent authority at a Third Country. And what happens with these papers in the weeks in between, well, we don’t know…”

Marjan:”If we transfer to a digital environment, no paper is available, so there’s nothing to compromise.”

Joost;”There’s direct communication between national authorities, known as ‘first-hand information’, and this reduces risks substantially.”

The Client programme will deliver higher quality export certificates, with less chance of errors in the production process. This will contribute to the reputation of the Netherlands as a major exporting country.