How to Import Cod and Haddock into the UK from Norway: The Controls, Documents and Checks, Step by Step

How to Import Cod and Haddock into the UK from Norway: The Controls, Documents and Checks, Step by Step

Cod and haddock from Norway are POAO. That single classification decides your CHED type, your IPAFFS entry and which BCP you route through.

That one fact — that white fish is a product of animal origin (POAO) — is where most first-time fish imports go right or wrong. It feels low-risk; it is a fillet, not a side of beef. But under GB import controls, cod and haddock are treated like the animal-origin product they are: pre-notified before arrival, certified by Norway's competent authority, and routed through a Border Control Post (BCP) for sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks. This guide walks the consignment end to end — from your Norwegian supplier's dock to release at the GB border — naming each system, document and check as you'll actually meet it. It is practical guidance, not regulated advice; rules change, so check the current position for your specific commodity and route, or ask us.

Are cod and haddock from Norway actually classed as POAO?

Yes. Cod and haddock are fishery products, which sit within products of animal origin (POAO) for GB import-control purposes. That classification — not the fact they feel like a low-risk food — is what triggers pre-notification in IPAFFS, an export health certificate from Norway, and an SPS check at a Border Control Post.

POAO is the controlling category here, and it is worth being precise about why. The GB sanitary and phytosanitary regime treats animal-origin food as a biosecurity and public-health risk regardless of how processed or how "everyday" it feels. Fishery products — fresh, chilled, frozen or processed fish and shellfish for human consumption — fall squarely inside it. So the moment you decide to import cod or haddock from Norway, you are in the same broad control framework as someone importing meat or dairy, even if the specific risk category and check rates differ. Per GOV.UK's guidance on importing fish for human consumption, fishery products require health certification and pre-notification when imported into Great Britain from non-qualifying countries.

A common assumption is that Norway changes this. It does not. Norway sits outside the EU but inside the European Economic Area (EEA), and it is a long-established, GOV.UK-listed approved country for fishery products. That status affects which model certificate applies and the practical reliability of the supply chain — but it does not remove the need for a CHED, an EHC or a BCP entry. EEA origin means approved, not exempt.

What is the difference between a CHED-P and a CHED-D for fish?

A CHED is the Common Health Entry Document — the pre-notification and clearance record you raise in IPAFFS for an SPS-controlled consignment. For products of animal origin like cod and haddock, the relevant type is the CHED-P (P for products of animal origin). The CHED-D covers feed and food of non-animal origin, which is not your fish.

Getting the CHED type right matters because it routes the consignment correctly and tells the BCP what kind of checks apply. The CHED family runs CHED-A (live animals), CHED-P (products of animal origin), CHED-D (food and feed of non-animal origin) and CHED-PP (plants and plant products). Cod and haddock are animal-origin food, so CHED-P is your document. Raise the wrong type and you create a mismatch that has to be unpicked before anything clears — and with chilled fish, every hour of unpicking is a cost you don't control.

You raise the CHED-P inside IPAFFS (the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System) — the GOV.UK service for pre-notifying SPS imports. IPAFFS generates the CHED reference that travels with the consignment and that the BCP works against on arrival. One practical point that catches people: your freight forwarder books the crossing, but raising the correct CHED-P in IPAFFS is the importer's legal responsibility, not the forwarder's, unless you've explicitly contracted them to act for you. Assume it's yours until proven otherwise.

How does BTOM decide what checks my cod and haddock face?

The Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) is Defra's framework that sorts SPS goods into risk categories — high, medium or low — and sets the documentary, identity and physical check rates for each. Most fishery products sit in the medium-risk category, which means documentary checks on every consignment and identity and physical checks at a set frequency.

BTOM is the framework that turned a long list of import rules into a risk-tiered system, and it determines the real-world check regime your consignment meets at the border. The risk category your specific cod or haddock product falls into drives how often it is physically opened and inspected versus simply checked on paper. Because BTOM categorisations and check rates are reviewed and can change, this is exactly the kind of rule you should verify for your commodity code before you ship — if you last classified your fish before BTOM's controls came in, re-check it. Per GOV.UK's Border Target Operating Model guidance, risk categories and associated check rates are published and updated; work from the current version, not last year's understanding.

One nuance worth flagging: frozen and chilled cod from the same supplier can sit under slightly different practical handling, because temperature and treatment can affect both the certificate and the inspection regime. Temperature isn't only a logistics decision here — it can be a compliance one. If you run both formats, don't assume one set of rules covers both.

What documents does a Norwegian cod or haddock consignment actually need?

Three documents do the load-bearing work: an export health certificate (EHC) signed by Norway's competent authority, your IPAFFS pre-notification generating the CHED-P, and the commercial paperwork (commercial invoice, packing list, transport documents) that ties the consignment together. Everything else supports these.

Here is what each one is and why it exists.

The export health certificate (EHC). This is the official certificate, signed by an authorised official in Norway, attesting that the consignment meets GB's import health requirements. The rules your Norwegian exporter's competent authority signs against are the GB requirements — APHA sits behind the model certificates on the GB side. Both ends have to line up: the certificate your supplier produces must be the correct model for fishery products, on the current version, completed accurately. Model export health certificates get updated; an old version can fail at the BCP. Ask your supplier which version they're working from rather than assuming.

The IPAFFS pre-notification and the CHED-P. You declare the consignment in IPAFFS before it arrives — the species, the treatment (chilled, frozen, processed), the approved establishment of origin, the quantity, and the BCP it will arrive through. IPAFFS issues the CHED reference. Each field can hold the load: if the species, establishment number or treatment on your IPAFFS entry doesn't match the EHC, you have a mismatch, and a mismatch is where holds begin.

The commercial documentation. Commercial invoice, packing list and transport documents. These also support your customs entry — separate from the SPS controls but happening in parallel (more on that below).

A point that underpins all three: you can only import from an approved establishment in an approved country. GOV.UK lists Norway as an approved country for fishery products, and the lists also tell you which establishments you're allowed to import from. Check your supplier's establishment is on the current list before you commit — it is the cheapest check you'll do all process.

Where do the customs and the SPS controls fit together?

SPS controls (CHED-P, EHC, BCP checks) and customs controls (the import declaration, duty and your commodity code) run in parallel, not in sequence. Your fish needs both: a correct SPS clearance through the BCP and a correct customs declaration submitted on CDS (the Customs Declaration Service). One clearing does not clear the other.

It's easy to treat "the border" as a single event, but two separate regimes are operating. On the customs side, you (or your customs agent) submit a declaration on CDS, classified to the correct commodity code for your specific fish product. The commodity code drives the duty rate and links to the SPS requirements — getting it wrong cascades into both an incorrect duty calculation and, potentially, the wrong control assumptions. On the SPS side, the CHED-P has to be cleared at the BCP. Goods movements may also interact with GVMS (the Goods Vehicle Movement Service) depending on the route and how the consignment moves. The practical takeaway: line up your customs agent and your SPS pre-notification together, not one after the other, so neither becomes the thing holding the other up at 4pm on a Friday.

A note on origin and duty, because Norway's EEA status raises it: being inside the EEA does not automatically mean duty-free. Preferential rates depend on the specific trade arrangement and on meeting rules of origin for the product. Don't assume zero duty — check the commodity code and the applicable preference for your fish before you build it into your landed cost.

What does the step-by-step process actually look like?

Worked end to end, importing cod and haddock from Norway runs: confirm the establishment is approved → agree the EHC with your supplier → raise the CHED-P in IPAFFS before arrival → submit the customs declaration on CDS → present at the nominated BCP → clear documentary, identity and physical checks → release. Each step has a failure point, and most failures trace back to a mismatch set earlier in the chain.

Here is the full run, for a chilled cod consignment, as an example.

1. Confirm the approved establishment. Before anything moves, check your Norwegian supplier's establishment is on the current GOV.UK approved-establishment list for fishery products. If it isn't listed, the consignment cannot legally be imported, full stop.
2. Agree the export health certificate. Confirm your supplier will issue the correct model EHC for fishery products, on the current version, signed by Norway's competent authority. Agree exactly what it will state — species, treatment, establishment — because this is what your IPAFFS entry must match.
3. Get your commodity code and customs side ready. Classify the product to the correct commodity code, confirm the duty position (including any preference), and brief your customs agent. This runs alongside the SPS steps, not after them.
4. Raise the CHED-P in IPAFFS before arrival. Pre-notify the consignment, declaring species, treatment, establishment, quantity and arrival BCP. The pre-notification has to be in before the consignment lands — for chilled cod, late pre-notification means a perishable clock you don't control. Make sure every field matches the EHC line for line, including the establishment number.
5. Submit the customs declaration on CDS. Your declaration, with the correct commodity code, goes in so customs clearance and SPS clearance progress together.
6. Present at the nominated BCP. The consignment arrives at the BCP you declared. The BCP works against your CHED-P.
7. Clear the checks. Documentary checks confirm the EHC and CHED-P agree. Identity checks confirm the goods are what was declared. Physical checks — at the BTOM-set frequency for the risk category — may open and inspect the consignment.
8. Release. Once SPS and customs clearances are both complete, the consignment is released.

The recurring lesson: the hold doesn't start at the border. It starts the moment a certificate detail and the IPAFFS entry stop matching. Get steps 1–4 precisely aligned and the border becomes a formality; get them loosely aligned and a perishable consignment sits while you reconcile paperwork by the hour.

What most commonly holds a fish consignment — and how do you avoid it?

The most common cause of a hold is a mismatch between the export health certificate and the IPAFFS pre-notification — a wrong establishment number, a treatment that doesn't agree, a species described differently on each. The second most common is a late or missing pre-notification on a perishable consignment. Both are avoidable upstream.

Avoidance is unglamorous and entirely about discipline before the goods move: confirm the establishment is approved, confirm the EHC model and version, and reconcile every field of your IPAFFS entry against the EHC before you submit it. Treat the commodity code and customs declaration with the same care, because a classification error can hold you on the customs side independently. None of this is hard once; it is just exacting, and the cost of getting it loose is highest on chilled product. Borders are complicated. The good news is that the failure points are knowable and almost entirely controllable before the first box leaves Norway.

Something held, or moving soon? The Falsum Helpdesk triages live customs and SPS issues — tell us the goods and the route, and we'll tell you exactly what you need. Reach us at support.falsum.co.uk.

For anything you're planning rather than firefighting, talk to us before you ship — getting the establishment, the EHC and the CHED-P aligned upfront is far cheaper than reconciling them at the border.

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