FOOD
Photo courtesy of Tom D’haenens.
The new control post location is situated in Ghent opposite the office of North Sea Port and next to the new Customs office.
New border control post fully operational Containers full of goods enter and leave North Sea Port on a daily basis. Though this flow of goods seems like a naturally recurring pattern in any port, this is certainly not a given. Specific goods must be properly controlled by a border control post. This border control needs a special license to be able to operate.
Stephanie Dierick, Policy Officer at North Sea Port: “We will reap the benefits of these additional border control permits in the upcoming years.”
For specific goods of animal origin for example, a license is required from the Dutch Food Safety Authority (NVWA) or the Federal Agency for Food Safety (FAVV) in Belgium. These licenses ensure local food safety control and serve as an extension of food safety control organised at European level. Everything that enters a port from third countries, that is to say non-European countries, has to be verified in order to be allowed entry.
Official opening Until recently, North Sea Port had two border control posts, one at Kloosterboer in Vlissingen, with codes HC(2) and NHC-T(FR)(2), which means respectively they are licensed for human consumption goods, such as fish and all frozen packaged non-human consumption goods (in a container). The other control post in Ghent was only licensed for HC-NT(6) and NHC-NT(6) which translates to mostly fats and oils and especially fish oil in bulk. Everything else such as pork, animal skins, or gelatin for sweets was not allowed to enter North Sea Port’s Ghent port area. Until now, veterinary import checks on such products had to be carried out at ports such as Antwerp,
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29-11-2021 14:41
