GGB
Also known as: common health entry document
GGB is the Dutch name of the common health entry document. In EU terms and in TRACES-NT the same document is called CHED. It is not a second form next to the CHED.
Why do Dutch files say GGB and TRACES-NT CHED?
GGB is the translation that has stayed in Dutch law and in the NVWA's practice: gemeenschappelijk gezondheidsdocument bij binnenkomst. CHED is the name in the Union regulation and in TRACES-NT: Common Health Entry Document. Inspectors, declarants and software use both, often in one breath, for the same document. Anyone who 'applies for' a GGB and then separately 'files' a CHED does the same thing twice. There is one notification, in TRACES-NT, with part I by the operator and part II by the NVWA. On the import declaration in DMS stands the EU document code with the CHED reference number. A search for a GGB code in DMS yields nothing. Keep both names in the file on the same object. Number, type and status belong to the CHED. GGB is the Dutch name of that object. That way a colleague who looks for 'the GGB', and an inspector who asks for the CHED number, land on the same document.
How does the GGB run in the Dutch inspection chain?
The consignment arrives through a border control post. For products of animal origin you notify the GGB as CHED-P in TRACES-NT, at the latest one working day before arrival. The NVWA does the documentary check, the identity check and where needed the physical check, and signs off part II. Without that sign-off the container may not leave the terminal, even if DMS has already accepted the import declaration. For plant products the Dutch pre-notification also runs through CLIENT PD, with the KCB as inspection service. The GGB is then the CHED-PP. Two Dutch counters, one Union document. Release is only complete when both sides are green. Fresh product forces the order. The notification has to be in before the vessel berths or the trailer reaches the post, otherwise the inspection slips a slot and shelf life runs on. The GGB in that chain is not administration afterwards. It is the start of the inspection.
Which GGB types do you meet in Dutch files?
The same split as the CHED. GGB-A or CHED-A for live animals, GGB-P or CHED-P for products of animal origin, GGB-D or CHED-D for food and feed of non-animal origin under increased control, GGB-PP or CHED-PP for plants. In TRACES-NT you choose the EU type. On a Dutch inspection instruction the same choice can stand as GGB. The type follows from the goods code, not from how the client names the load. A composite product with an animal share is GGB-P, even if the trade name points to vegetables. A mixed container can need two types, and then they are two notifications, two inspection slots and two sign-offs. In a Dutch declarant's file you often see 'GGB' as a folder name or as a document type, with the CHED reference number underneath. That is consistent, as long as nobody starts issuing a second number for 'the GGB' next to 'the CHED'.
What does a Dutch file have to hang on the GGB?
The certificate from the exporting country, the invoice, the packing list, the transport document, the container number and the seal, the ETA and the border control post. Every field in part I has to be traceable to one of those documents. The NVWA lays them side by side. A GGB whose kilos come from the packing list and whose seal comes from a previous trailer falls at the identity check. In addition the CHED reference number belongs on the import declaration, in DMS, as a document. Without that number the GGB is an inspection document that Customs does not see. With the number but without sign-off of part II the fiscal declaration may have been accepted, and the trailer still stands still. Keep the sign-off. Part II is the evidence that the consignment was allowed to enter, and it is the document that later, at a notification or a recall, is asked for first. A file that only carries part I carries the notification, not the admission.
How do you talk to the NVWA about a GGB that in TRACES is called CHED?
Use the reference number, not the local nickname. CHEDP.NL.2026.0000000 or the equivalent for A, D or PP is unique. 'The GGB of the kiwis of Tuesday' is not, and it is why an inspector opens the wrong file. Put that number in the mail, in the file and on the import declaration, in the same form. If the NVWA asks for 'the GGB', they mean the CHED in TRACES-NT, including the attachments and the certificate. Do not send an internal spreadsheet with the same data. Send the number, and make sure part I in TRACES carries the current container, the current seal and the current ETA. On a change of the ETA or of the means of transport: first update TRACES, then the NVWA. A phone call without an updated GGB leaves the planning on the old data. The inspection then comes at a moment when the consignment is not yet there, or has already been.
What if the GGB has been rejected, and how do you name that in the file?
Rejection is a measure in part II: redispatch, destruction or treatment. In Dutch mails that then often says 'GGB rejected'. In TRACES-NT the measure stands in the EU terms of the CHED. Use both in the file: the measure from part II, plus the Dutch word so that the planner and the client recognise it. The costs are for the interested party. Storage, cooling, inspection, transport to destruction or back to a third country, and on fresh product the lot itself. A rejected GGB is not a customs debt, but it does block the customs release for as long as the consignment physically sits under inspection. Do not close the file on the inspection refusal alone. The import declaration has to be withdrawn, replaced or moved to another procedure, depending on the measure. A rejected consignment that in DMS still stands open as import into free circulation is a declaration chain that does not fit.