e-Cert Important Information

Electronic EUR1 Certificates

Electronic EUR1s are NOT allowed for the following countries:

Switzerland
Israel
Mexico
Norway
Iceland
Liechtenstein
Croatia
Egypt
Lebanon 

For all of the above countries, only manually signed and stamped EUR1s can be issued. There is still the option to submit a 'Standard' electronic EUR1 using e-Cert for the above countries, however you will need to come into your local Chamber office to manually sign the EUR1 certificate. Please contact your local Chamber office for further clarification on the countries that will not allow electronic EUR1 certificates and how you can use the e-Cert system to  produce certificates for these countries.

Hull Office:
Contact: Lorraine Holt
Tel: 01482 324976
Email: l.holt@hull-humber-chamber.co.uk

Grimsby Office
Contact: Marilyn Waud
Tel: 01472 342981
Email: m.waud@hull-humber-chamber.co.uk

e-Cert Update: July 2011
The electronic documentation system, e-Cert, has been updated over the weekend to make it easier to use and more self explanatory. You still have the same facilities available and all of your previous applications are still within e-Cert, the changes you will see are in the instructions to create an application and when you are actually completing your documents.  Below is a link to a quick preview of the updates and what the system now looks like:

http://www.e-zcert.com/Community/OnlineTraining.aspx

e-Cert has also had a name change to e-z cert.  Everything else remains the same.

e-Cert Premium Express Service
There is a new facility within your e-Cert account when submitting electronic applications. You can now request the 'Premium Express' service when you complete the 'Certificate Despatch Method' instruction on submitting your electronic application. Please note that if you do require the Premium Express service, you should indicate so by using this new facility and following this instruction and not by typing written instructions in the “Notes to Chamber” box.

The Premium Express service is for documents required urgently and will be processed by the Chamber within an hour of receipt of application. Please note that an Express Service Fee is charged in addition to the basic certification fee if you do require this service.

Please find below details of the processing times and different levels of service the Chamber provides for electronic documentation customers:

STANDARD SERVICE: you apply online for your export document(s) and the Chamber will print off and certify your document(s) and return them to you by your chosen method.
EXPRESS SERVICE: you apply online for your export document(s), the Chamber will certify your document(s) online (adding their electronic certification stamp and signature) and you will print the document(s) off at your premises on the relevant pre-printed forms. Applications received by 12pm will be processed same day (subject to the Chamber’s normal working day). Applications received after 12pm will be processed by 10am the following working day.
PREMIUM EXPRESS SERVICE: the same as the eXpress service but the application will be processed within an hour.
 
e-Cert Update: February 2011
e-Cert now allows users to upload documents in various file formats. In addition to PDF files, the system will now allow you to upload .DOC , .DOCX , .RTF , .TXT , .XLS , .XLSX , .PPT and .PPTX 
Upon upload, all files will be converted to a PDF by e-Cert and returned to users as PDF files.
 
e-Cert Update: November 2010
The most notable changes include:

User Maintenance
All 'Administrator Users' will now carry out user maintenance within e-Cert World itself. This includesadding/editing/removing user accounts. 

e-Cert Update: 15th August 2010
e-Cert will undergo a system update on 15th August, making it easier for users to upload electronic signatures and upload multiple files.
 

e-Cert Update: Instruction to Chamber Facility
A new facility has been put into e-Cert in which exporters can send instructions to their certifying chamber within the electronic application. Previously exporters had to send a follow up email but now on submission of the application there is an instruction box which you can add comments to and these will be received by the Chamber within the same notification as your electronic application.  If you would like your application certifying straight away or within an hour, please enter this request in the instruction box before your final submission.


Electronic Version of EUR1 is NOT recommended for LEBANON
HMRC has received notification from the Lebanese Customs authorities that it will not accept EUR1 certificates witht he electronically reproduced stamps and signatures.  Other countries that will not accept the electronic version of EUR1 are:

Mexico
Switzerland
Israel
Egypt
Croatia
 
e-Cert Updates - 9th January 09
An update has been applied to the number of address lines on the consignee screen. The update will only affect exporter accounts which were registered before September 2008. There used to be 5 lines of address plus a separate Country of Destination field which did not print as part of the address on documents. After the update, there are now 4 lines of address and the Country of Destination will print as part of the address. This change may affect your documents as the country may print twice. If this does happen, please remove the country from the address line 1 - 4 and just leave in the destination.
 
Electronic Version of EUR1 is NOT recommended for Switzerland 
Unfortunately we have to report the strong position being taken by Swiss Customs against acceptance of the electronic version of the EUR1 Certificate. The British Chamber of Commerce now has written evidence issued by Swiss Customs which states that the electronic version of EUR1 does not comply with the Free Trade Agreement between Switzerland and the EC and, therefore, will not be accepted as a proof of origin document. Not only will electronic EUR1s be rejected by Swiss Customs but extra charges/fines will be imposed in getting original signatures added to the certificate, not to mention the  possible delays this could cause to clearance of goods.  
 
e-Cert Trial Period
The Chamber has been operating e-Cert since the end of July.  We initially provided all customers with a 2 month trial period accompanied by a nominal fee of £1 for rejections. We extended this familiarisation period for a further 2 months to allow all users to become fully proficient with the system.  Trial periods end 4 months after registeration for use of  e-Cert. Taking into account all of the feedback received from the Chamber with regards to the reasons for rejection to date, the charge for rejected electronic documents will then be as follows:
 
EC Certificates of Origin & invoice  £15.50 + vat
Arab Certificates of Origin   £10.50 + vat
EUR1 and ATR     £14.00 + vat 

 
Latest Changes to e-Cert
There have been some improvements made to the electronic documentation system.  Please see updated User Manual for details of these changes.

Electronic Version of EUR1/A.TR
e-Cert V5 only has authority to process online preference certificates for: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Cameroon, Chile, Faroe Islands, French Polynesia, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mauritius, Monte Negro, Morocco, New Caledonia, Senegal,  Serbia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Tunisia and Turkey (both EUR1 and ATR).  If you would like to make an online application for any country not mentioned but listed in HMRC notice 828, please contact your local Chamber office for guidance.