Establishment approval in international trade of animal products

This report provides an overview of different approaches of establishment approval as well as its implementation and organisation in international agrifood trade. The focus is on animal products as establishment approval is particularly used for exporting these products. Based on trade data, 8 countries are selected, which are important markets for EU exporters in general and Dutch exporters in particular, for a comparative analysis on their approaches to establishment approval: China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United States. In the analysis, we differentiate requirements and conformity assessments for establishments approval at the country level and at the firm level. For both levels, we collect and compare the respective information, which includes information about transparency and the organisation of establishment approval. The main source of information are the official websites of the respective importing countries, the EU as well as the Netherlands.