Moldova Requires New Health Certificates for Fish Imports from 13 November 2026

Moldova has issued two Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures notifications affecting animals and products of animal origin, with both measures documented in official WTO communications.

Moldova’s National Food Safety Agency told the World Trade Organization (WTO) of new health certificates for imported fish, seafood and live animals.

The agency sent the notices to the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, the body that tracks food-safety and animal- and plant-health rules, on Oct. 15, 2026¹. The rules for fish and seafood start on Nov. 13, 2026².

In short, a shipment of fish, shellfish or live animals entering Moldova must travel with a health certificate on a set model. A government vet in the exporting country must fill in and sign that certificate, and Moldova’s border staff will check it.

What did Moldova notify to the WTO on Oct. 15?

Moldova sent several food-safety and animal-health notices to the WTO on the same day¹. Two of them set the papers that shipments of animals and animal products must carry into the country.

The first is notice G/SPS/N/MDA/41, the aquatic notice. It covers fish, shellfish and other aquatic animals and the products made from them². It reports Order No. 64 of Feb. 2, 2026, issued by the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA)².

The second covers land animals and their breeding material. It rests on ANSA Order No. 42, which approves model certificates for the entry of certain land animals and their "germinal products"³. Germinal products are the material used to breed animals: semen, egg cells (oocytes) and embryos³.

Both measures copy European Union (EU) rules into Moldovan law². Order No. 64 follows the EU’s Commission Implementing Regulation 2020/2236 for aquatic animals². Order No. 42 follows the EU’s Commission Implementing Regulation 2021/403 for land animals³.

Which fish and seafood products need the new certificates?

The aquatic notice lists the goods by their Harmonized System (HS) codes, the numbers customs use to classify goods. It covers HS headings 0301 to 0309, nine headings in all². Together they take in aquatic animals and the products derived from them².

Order No. 64 sets "the forms of animal health certificates" for these goods when they enter Moldova². The full order runs to 45 pages and is written in Romanian².

The notice says the measure applies to all trading partners². No country is singled out. A seller in Asia, the EU or South America uses the same certificate model.

Why did Moldova’s food safety agency act?

The agency gives two reasons in the aquatic notice: food safety and animal health². Imported fish and seafood can carry diseases that spread to farmed or wild stocks. A standard certificate shows that a government vet has checked the shipment before it leaves.

The notice names an international standard behind the rules. It points to Chapter 5.1 of the code of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)². Moldova says its order matches that standard².

Moldova also marked the aquatic order as a trade facilitating measure². That label means the country sees the rule as making trade easier, not harder. Using the EU’s certificate models means exporters who already ship to the EU will know the format.

When do the fish and seafood rules start?

ANSA adopted and published Order No. 64 on Feb. 2, 2026². The WTO notice gives Nov. 13, 2026 as the date it enters into force². That leaves about one week between today and the start date.

The WTO notice says there is no deadline for comments². The order is already adopted, so the WTO notice informs trading partners rather than asking for their views.

From the start date, fish and seafood entering Moldova will be judged against the new certificate models. A shipment carrying an older form risks being held at the border.

How must a vet fill in the land animal certificates?

Order No. 42 sets detailed rules for how an official vet completes a certificate³. These rules show how Moldova will judge whether a paper is valid at the border.

The certificate must meet these rules³:

• Signature and stamp: the official vet signs it and adds the official stamp. Their colour must differ from the colour of the printed text.
• Unused statements: where a certificate offers several choices, the vet must strike out, initial and stamp the ones that do not apply, or remove them.
• Pages: the certificate must be one sheet, several sheets joined into one whole, or numbered pages in a fixed set.
• Code on each page: if it runs over several pages, each page must carry the certificate’s unique code, the vet’s signature and the stamp.
• Timing: the certificate must be issued before the shipment leaves the control of the issuing authority.
• Language: a certificate for entry into Moldova must be in the official language or in a language used internationally.

The order allows an exemption on language. Moldova may accept a certificate in another official language, with a certified translation where needed³.

Some of these paper rules do not apply to electronic certificates³. Paper certificates filled in and printed in TRACES, the EU’s online system for animal health papers, are also freed from the rules on striking out, pages and page codes³.

What happens at Moldova’s border inspection post?

The importer’s side has duties too. The operator responsible for the shipment must give the authority a description of it, as set out in Part 1 of each certificate model³.

For shipments entering Moldova, the certificate must be shown to officials at the border inspection post where the goods enter³. This applies whenever the shipment is subject to official controls³.

Customs and vets at the post compare the shipment with the certificate. A missing, unsigned or wrongly filled certificate gives officials grounds to hold the shipment.

Can a lost or wrong certificate be replaced?

Order No. 42 sets strict limits on replacement certificates³. An authority may issue one only when the first certificate has an administrative error, or when it was damaged or lost³.

A replacement must not change the facts about the shipment’s identity, its tracing or its health guarantees³. It must also follow these steps³:

1. Refer clearly to the unique code and issue date of the first certificate, and state that it replaces it.
2. Carry a new certificate number, different from the first.
3. Show its own issue date, different from the first.
4. Be an original paper document, unless it is an electronic replacement sent through TRACES.

There is one practical relief. The border post may choose not to ask for a replacement when only the buyer, the importer, the border post or the means of transport changes after issue³. The operator must then give the authority the new details³.

Which land animals does Order No. 42 cover?

Order No. 42 sets model certificates in three annexes³. Annex 1 covers movement of animals inside Moldova, annex 2 covers entry into Moldova, and annex 3 sets declarations that go with the certificates³.

The models in the order name the animals they cover. These include cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, horses and donkeys, camels, deer and other hoofed animals³. Separate models cover poultry, day-old chicks, hatching eggs, captive birds and bovine semen³.

The order also defines honey bees and bumble bees, which shows that insects kept for farming fall within its reach³. Many models come in two versions: one for animals kept for breeding or production, another for animals going to slaughter³.

When does Order No. 42 take effect?

Order No. 42 does not take effect on a fixed calendar date. It enters into force on the day Law No. 82/2024 on official controls in the agri-food sector comes into force³. That law sets how Moldova checks food and farm goods.

The order also has a planned end. It will be repealed on the date Moldova joins the EU³. At that point the EU’s own rules would apply directly.

The order rests on three Moldovan laws³. These are Law No. 82/2024 on official controls, Law No. 196/2024 on animal health, and Law No. 221/2007 on veterinary health work³.

Who is affected by Moldova’s certificate rules?

Several groups must change how they work:

• Exporters abroad of fish, seafood, live animals, semen or embryos must get the right Moldovan certificate model from their own government vet.
• Official vets in exporting countries must complete and sign the models in line with the paper rules.
• Importers in Moldova must give the authority the shipment details in Part 1 of the certificate.
• Freight agents and customs brokers must make sure the certificate reaches the border inspection post with the goods.

Exporters already selling to the EU are in the best position. Moldova’s models follow the EU texts, so the content and layout should look familiar².

Key points on Moldova’s animal health certificates

The table below sums up the two measures.

From Nov. 13, 2026, fish and seafood shipments entering Moldova must carry the new certificate model set by Order No. 64². The land animal rules in Order No. 42 follow once Law No. 82/2024 on official controls takes effect³.

Sources

1. ↩ SPS notifications – EVS standard evs.ee | en https://www.evs.ee/en/wtonotifications/spsnotifications
2. ↩ NOTIFICATION NOTIFICATION NOTIFICATION http://www.spsvietnam.gov.vn/Data/File/Notice/12363/NMDA41.pdf
3. ↩ 1.1.1 Ordinul 42_privind stabilirea modelelor de certificate de sănătate animală_oficiale.pdf https://www.ansa.gov.md/sites/default/files/2026-01/1.1.1%20Ordinul%2042_privind%20stabilirea%20modelelor%20de%20certificate%20de%20s%C4%83n%C4%83tate%20animal%C4%83_oficiale.pdf