The Trade Control and Export System (TRACES), is a web-based veterinarian certification tool used by the European Union for controlling the import and export of live animals and animal products within and without its borders. Its network falls under the responsibility of the European Commission. TRACES constitutes a key element of how the European Union facilitates trade and improves health protection for the consumer, as laid down in the First Pillar principle. Other countries use computer networks to provide veterinary certification, but TRACES is the only supranational network working at a continental scale of 28 countries and almost 500 million people.
Background Since the end of the nineteenth century, following the development of modern veterinary medicine and food safety, European states have built, in parallel with customs structures, veterinary inspection stations located at the borders known as Border Inspection Posts. There all goods of animal origin including live animals are checked in order to avoid outbreaks of zoonoses and epizooties. At the establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1958, each country used its own national legislation to set standards for the health of internationally traded animals and their products. In the 1990s, according to its first pillar, the European Union began studying how to provide a European-scale computer network dedicated to food safety and animal health with the aim of strengthening the single European market and the protection of consumers. The TRACES network started up in April 2004 as a replacement for the older ANIMO and SHIFT networks.
Features The first mention of TRACES was in the decision of the Commission 2003/623/CE of 19 August 2003. It is based on a network using internet veterinary authorities of member states and participating non-EU countries. Through it, central and local authorities, border inspection posts and economics operators are linked. It provides electronic sanitary certificates mandatory for tracking goods and live animals: Common Veterinary Entry Document (CVED) as defined in decision 2003/279/CE of the Commission of 15 April 2003 for products (CVED P) and in regulation 2004/282/CE of the Commission of 18 February 2004 for CVED for live animals (CVED A). TRACES sends an electronic message from the departure point to the transfer point and the arrival point to notify that a consignment is arriving. Similarly, every concerned point sends a message to other points which enables a well-developed follow up of the consignment (goods or animals) movement. It provides the ad-hoc European Union legislation, manages the non-EU country establishment list which is the agreed-upon list for importing into the EU, and keeps on file the rejected consignments and the reason for rejection. Economic operators are able to start the process electronically by filling in the first part of the mandatory certificates for importing goods and animals into the EU. Its next step will be electronic certification without any paperwork. At the moment, the legal basis for exchange of goods or live animals among non-EU countries and the EU is a paper certificate, even if the decision 2004/292/CE says it mandatory for member states and economic operators to use TRACES since 31 December 2004. TRACES uses all the official languages of the EU, plus Russian. The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, Directorate G, unit G5, sector TRACES, is in charge of the workload.
History Before TRACES, the EU tried twice to create a computer-based network dedicated to food safety and animal health for exchange of goods and live animals via the ANIMO and SHIFT networks.
ANIMO ANIMO (Animal Movement System), a computer-based tracking system for animal movements, was set up in 1990. Its creation was triggered by directive 90/425/CEE. On 15 July 1991, the directive of the Council 91/496/CEE defined the veterinary checks to be carried out on imported goods from non-EU countries. The 19 July 1991 decision of the Commission 91/398/CEE is in relation to a computer-based network linking veterinary authorities (ANIMO). The Commission launched an invitation to tender in December 1991. On 3 December 1991, the decision of the Commission 91/638/CEE concerned itself with the designation of the host centre. On 2 July 1992, Commission 92/373/CEE stated that ANIMO was to be hosted in Belgium. On 25 September of that year, Commission 92/486/CEE stated that the common host would work with member states. On 21 December 1992, the Commission 93/70/CEE specified the message ANIMO will send using its own coding system which is different from the ISO code used by the World Customs Organisation and now in use in TRACES. Finally on 4 June 2002, Commission 2002/459/CE defined the list of ANIMO units and repealed Decision 287/2000/CE. ANIMO was used by member states, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Andorra, San Marin, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus. ANIMO was only able to send messages and lacked interactivity with veterinary authorities. ANIMO was able to trace the origin of animals and goods in the event of problems and to warn veterinary authorities if the relevant data had been added to system, but this was not done systematically. The system lacked a database on European legislation about importation from non-EU countries. This resulted in a loss of time at border inspection posts, as one had to wait for the proper legislation to be found. ANIMO was also devoted only to live animals. It did not track data concerning rejected animals or goods; a rejected consignment could attempt entry point at another border post. Additionally, ANIMO did not track the movement of animals or goods within the EU. Therefore, the Commission developed another tool, the SHIFT network.
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