Pre-notification
Also known as: CLIENT PD, inspection declaration
A pre-notification is the inspection declaration you file before arrival for goods liable to inspection, in the Netherlands via CLIENT PD. The response is code 1 (free) or code 2 (inspection).
What is a pre-notification via CLIENT PD?
A pre-notification is the notification of goods liable to inspection to NVWA or KCB, before the consignment arrives. In the Netherlands that runs via CLIENT Import PD. PD stands for plantkundige dienst, the plant health service. It is the Dutch channel for plant inspections, not an equivalent of ATLAS, AES or a British inspection system. You file the pre-notification as a keuraangifte, an inspection declaration. The inspection body replies with a code. Code 1 means free: the consignment does not have to be inspected. Code 2 means inspection: a document check or a physical inspection. That code produces a release code that must go into the import declaration. Without that code the IMA is incomplete. DMS can refuse the declaration or hold the release until the inspection result is in. The pre-notification is therefore not an extra next to the customs declaration. It is a link without which import of fresh and plant product stalls.
For which goods is a pre-notification needed?
For goods that are liable to inspection on entry, especially plant product (vegetables, fruit, plants, seed potatoes) and, in a separate chain, veterinary product. Whether a consignment is liable follows from the goods code, the country of origin and the measures in TARIC. A pepper from Morocco is a different file from a machine from Japan. CLIENT PD covers the plant side, towards NVWA and KCB. Those two sit next to each other and do largely the same work, with a different lens: plant health versus quality. The veterinary side runs via TRACES-NT and CHED, not via CLIENT PD. Do not confuse those two chains in the file. Check the duty per article line, not per container. A mixed load with inspection-liable and free lines needs a pre-notification for the liable part. An assumption that the whole container is free because most of it is, is a classic reason for a stalled IMA.
When must the pre-notification go out?
Before arrival. The inspection body needs the notification to decide whether there will be an inspection and to schedule an inspector. A pre-notification that only goes out at ATA leaves no room. On fresh product that room is shelf life. Inspecting a day later is a day less on the shelf. Use the ETA to choose the moment. Too early, and the consignment data still change (number of packages, weight, container). Too late, and code 2 lands on a consignment that already stands on the quay without an inspection appointment. The practical window sits in the last days before arrival, with an update if the ETA shifts. The connection itself is free of charge. Only inspections that are actually carried out are charged on. That is an argument to pre-notify and not to gamble on exemption. A missed pre-notification costs a day. A superfluous pre-notification that returns code 1 costs a message.
What do you do with code 1 and code 2?
You put code 1 in the import declaration as a release code. The IMA can proceed, customs sees that the inspection duty has been handled, and release can follow without NVWA or KCB seeing the consignment. Keep the response with the file. On a question afterwards that is the proof that the pre-notification was filed. Code 2 means there will be an inspection. The automated process stops. Someone schedules the inspector, the consignment stays available, and after the inspection a message comes back. Only then may the IMA be released finally. The customs release waits for the inspector, not the other way around. A physical inspection lasts until the end of the day or until the next working day, not until the minute. Inform the client at once on code 2. On fresh that is the difference between a saleable consignment and a consignment that no longer makes the chain. The message is inspection, not rejection. Rejection is a possible outcome of the inspection, not the code itself.
How does the pre-notification hang on the import declaration?
The release code from CLIENT PD is a data element on the IMA. Without that element a required document or a required measure at the goods code is missing. DMS holds the declaration or customs holds the release. The T1 that waits on that IMA then stays open as well. File the pre-notification and the IMA in the right order. First the inspection declaration, then the import declaration with the code. An IMA that goes out before the code is there must later be supplemented or produces a check. If the release code is known at the moment of import, the IMA can follow at once. Without the code it stays put. TRACES and CHED are the veterinary counterpart, not the same notification. A consignment that needs both has two pre-notifications. The CHED code belongs in the IMA just as much. One green inspection does not cancel the other.
What goes wrong with pre-notifications?
Filing too late is the first mistake. The vessel is in, the truck is ready, and CLIENT PD still has to run. Code 2 at that moment is a day of standstill you could have planned. Send the inspection declaration on the ETA, not on the ATA. Wrong identity of the consignment is the second. Container number, seal, number of packages or botanical name that does not match what physically arrives, produces an inspection that does not match or a rejection. NVWA and KCB inspect what is there, not what should have been on the screen. The third mistake is not putting the code in the IMA. The pre-notification is green, the inspector is done, and the import declaration misses the data element. DMS or customs holds. The chain sees two green sub-processes and one red declaration. The code is the hinge, not an attachment in the mail.