Livestock exports from Northern Ireland

Details of the requirements and exporter responsibilities when exporting livestock from Northern Ireland.

Although the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) does its best to provide an efficient service and ensure the timely issue of the documentation necessary to enable exports to take place, it is important to remember that exporters themselves have a number of responsibilities.

Exporters must, for example, offer animals for export which meet the appropriate health certification requirements (for example sheep for export to other European Union (EU) Member States for breeding, must originate from holdings which comply with scrapie monitoring requirements).

Exporters must also allow adequate time for the processing of applications. In most straightforward cases, an application for an export health certificate must be with us at least 10 days before the proposed date of export. Where there has been no recent trade with a particular country, exporters will be asked by DARD to establish that country's import health requirements. This should be done through the exporter's trade contacts.

Exporters need to take account of the time this may take when applying to DARD for export health certification. DARD is not liable if an export health certificate and any accompanying documentation cannot be issued because of insufficient notice.

Livestock exports can take place from both Port of Larne and Port of Belfast.