The health certificate. How to request it, and what it costs to request it late.
What the health certificate for export is gets written everywhere. Almost nowhere does anyone write how you request it, with what notice and with which payment receipt attached.
You request it from the ASL competent for the area, on its own form, by certified email. Each health authority sets the notice required: ASL TO5 states three working days, the Novara ASL five for food of non-animal origin.
You pay by the hour. Legislative Decree 32/2021 provides an hourly rate for activities for export. ASL TO5 publishes the amount it applies: €80 an hour, with €60 for the first certificate with inspection and €20 for further ones on the same day.
Asking late is a cost item. Article 8 of the same decree provides a 30 per cent surcharge when the control is requested less than 24 hours ahead, as well as at night or on public holidays.
This piece is part of the guide to export operations for the small food producer and covers the procedure. What the health certificate and the free sale certificate are, who signs them and how they differ, is in health certificate or free sale.
The template, to download
Your ASL publishes the form and it must be filled in on theirs. This sheet is for before: it collects in one go the details of the applicant, the plant and the consignment, the dates and the attachments more than one health authority asks for, so the request goes out complete and the notice period isn't used up in back-and-forth. It is the same sheet as on the page about the health certificate and the free sale certificate. The sheet is in Italian, like the forms it prepares for.
| File | What it contains | Link |
|---|---|---|
| Preparation sheetWord, to fill in | The details of the applicant, the plant and the goods, the dates, and the list of recurring attachments. |
|
| Preparation sheetPDF, to print | To fill in by hand the first time, or to circulate it in the company without risking changes. |
The files are free. There is no form in front of them, we don't ask for an address and we receive no notification when someone downloads them. Step zero of the sheet is the three things to read on your ASL's website: the form, the address of the right service and the notice it states.
Whom you ask
The local health authority competent for the area where the plant is located. Within the ASL, the service changes depending on the product: the food hygiene and nutrition service for food of non-animal origin and contact materials, the veterinary service for food of animal origin, feed and by-products.
ASL TO5, for example, publishes three different addresses depending on the branch. It is a detail that looks irrelevant and isn't: a request sent to the wrong service isn't rejected, it is forwarded, and meanwhile the notice period you had calculated has been used up.
The first thing to do, then, isn't to write. It is to open your ASL's page and find the form, the address and the notice that ASL states. The differences between health authorities are real and can't be deduced.
The notice period, which changes from ASL to ASL
There is no national notice period. Each health authority publishes its own, and the range you find by reading three different pages is wide enough to ruin a shipment for anyone who went by the wrong ASL.
| Health authority | Stated notice | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| ASL TO5food, feed and FCM | 3 working days. Verbatim: «The request must be sent with 3 working days' notice». |
Three different addresses depending on the branch, and for each application payment of the fee under Legislative Decree 32/2021 must be documented. |
| Novara ASLnon-animal origin and FCM | 5 working days, with «transmission to the SIAN with 5 working days' notice». |
Among the attachments, a photocopy of the applicant's identity document, that is, of the legal representative or owner. |
| ASL 3 Liguriaplant origin and composites | It doesn't state a notice period, but provides for urgent issue within 24 hours of submitting the application, with a surcharge. |
It asks for the complete packing list attached to the request, and the payment receipt for the fee calculated on an hourly basis. |
The practical reading of this table isn't «you need three days». It is that the number should be read on your own ASL, once, and then written somewhere whoever prepares shipments finds it without looking.
What you attach
The ASL publishes the form and it changes from authority to authority, but the attachments are similar. Recurring are the identity document of the legal representative or owner, the full details of the consignment to be certified, and the receipt for payment of the fee.
A less obvious attachment, explicitly requested by ASL 3 Liguria, is the packing list complete with the required data. It makes sense: the certificate must describe the same goods described on the other documents, and it is the point where document consistency becomes a requirement and not good practice.
It is also why it pays to prepare the shipment folder before requesting the certificate, not after. The same goods must be described the same way on invoice, packing list and certificate, as explained in the documents for a food shipment abroad.
What it costs: you pay by the hour
Legislative Decree No 32 of 2 February 2021 establishes that activity for export is charged to the operator and billed on an hourly basis. Article 10(2) explains how it is calculated: the hourly rate multiplied by the hours or fractions worked by each officer, and it specifies something almost nobody reports.
«The minimum fraction of an hour to be considered is the minute. For the purposes of determining the fee under this article, travel time shall not be counted.»
The decree refers the hourly amount to an annex published as an image, which we were unable to read. Individual health authorities publish it, though: ASL TO5 states that «the amount set is €80/hour (Annex 3, sec. 1)», and on that basis builds a readable fee schedule.
| Service | Stated fee | Standard time considered |
|---|---|---|
| First certificatewith inspection | €60 |
45 minutes, calculated on the hourly rate of €80. |
| Further certificateson the same day | €20 each |
15 minutes. It is why it pays to group requests together. |
| Attestationwithout inspection | €20 |
15 minutes of standard time for each attestation. |
| First inclusion in export listsor annual recertification | €80 an hour per officer |
On actual time. It is the item that weighs when opening a new market. |
| Remaining on the listsministerial competence | €100 per plant, per year and per third country |
It is a recurring cost, and it grows with every market opened. |
The amounts are those stated by a single health authority and aren't a national tariff: the hourly rate comes from the decree, each ASL publishes how it applies it. The value of this table lies in the order of magnitude and the structure, not in the exact figure for your province.
The 30 per cent surcharge
It is the point that changes the way you work, and it is written in Article 8(1) of the decree. The hourly rate is increased by 30 per cent when the control requested by the operator takes place between 18:00 and 06:00, on public holidays, or on working days «with a request made less than 24 hours before the scheduled time».
The third case is the one that concerns everyone. Urgent issue isn't a paid service you buy when needed. It is the same service, with a surcharge that kicks in because you asked late. ASL 3 Liguria says so directly, stating a 30% surcharge on the standard fee for issue within 24 hours.
There is also a fixed, less known surcharge: Article 8(4) adds 0.5 per cent to almost all fees, to implement the multi-annual national control plan. It doesn't change a quote, but it explains why the amount that arrives is never exactly the one in the schedule.
Finally, the cost of analytical checks for export, including analyses, tests and diagnoses, is borne by the operator and is added to the fee. If your product or the destination country requires sampling, that is a separate item to ask about beforehand, not to discover on the invoice.
The template, and when it has to be negotiated
Not all certificates already exist. When there is a bilateral agreement between Italy and the destination country, or when the template is agreed at European level, there is a form to fill in. When there isn't, you start from a generic template whose descriptive part can be modified as the case requires.
That «can be modified» means someone has to agree the text, and agreeing a text between three parties in two countries adds days that aren't in any notice period. That is why the question to the buyer, on day one, isn't whether a certificate is needed but which template their customs accepts.
The date that doesn't move
There is a constraint that makes any later fix useless, and it is why this whole procedure should be brought forward instead of chased. A certificate can't be issued if the departure date of the goods is earlier than the certification date.
In other words: the document can't be obtained afterwards. If the goods have left, there is no bureaucratic way to fix it after the fact, and what remains is a consignment held up at destination with a buyer who isn't at fault. It is the most expensive mistake in the whole subject, and it always has the same cause: nobody asked in time.
When the notice period stops living in someone's head
With two shipments a year the notice period is remembered by whoever requested it the first time. With twelve shipments to five countries, each with its own template and its own reference ASL, what gets lost is almost never a rule. It is always and only a date.
That is the point where the deadline should be taken out of memory and put in a place that watches it on its own, with operational deadline alerts counting back from the shipping date. With a constraint that matters more than the technology, written in Ethics: the system prepares and flags, but no application goes out to an authority without a person having read and approved it. On a declaration to the health authority that signature is substance, not form.
The notice periods and fees above belong to three ASLs that aren't yours. If you write to us with the name of your health authority, we will read what it publishes on notice, form, address and fees, and send it back to you in plain terms. We do it free because it takes us ten minutes and saves you two hours.
A person replies, the same one who then builds the systems, within 24 hours, with a reading of the situation and not with a quote. You write from here, and one line is enough.
Questions and answers
Whom do you ask for the health certificate for export?
The local health authority competent for the area where the plant is located. Within the ASL the service changes depending on the product: food hygiene and nutrition for food of non-animal origin and contact materials, veterinary service for food of animal origin, feed and by-products.
ASL TO5 publishes three different addresses depending on the branch. A request sent to the wrong service isn't rejected, it is forwarded, and meanwhile the notice period you calculated has been used up.
How far in advance should the health certificate be requested?
There is no national notice period: each health authority sets it. ASL TO5 writes that the request must be sent with three working days' notice; the Novara ASL asks for transmission to the SIAN with five working days' notice for food of non-animal origin.
The number should be read once on your own ASL's page and then written where whoever prepares shipments finds it without looking. Going by another health authority's notice period is a concrete way to lose a shipment.
How much does the health certificate for export cost?
You pay by the hour. Legislative Decree 32/2021 provides an hourly rate for activities for export, calculated on the hours or fractions worked by each officer, with the minute as the minimum fraction and without counting travel time.
ASL TO5 states that it applies €80 an hour, with €60 for the first certificate with inspection (45 minutes), €20 for further ones on the same day (15 minutes) and €20 for an attestation without inspection. These are that health authority's amounts, not a national tariff.
How much does it cost to request the certificate at the last minute?
30 per cent more. Article 8(1) of Legislative Decree 32/2021 provides a 30 per cent surcharge on the hourly rate when the control requested by the operator takes place between 18:00 and 06:00, on public holidays, or on working days with a request made less than 24 hours before the scheduled time.
Urgent issue, then, isn't an extra service you buy. It is the same service, with a surcharge that kicks in because the request arrived late. On top comes the 0.5 per cent provided by paragraph 4 on almost all fees.
Can you obtain the certificate after the goods have left?
No. A certificate can't be issued if the departure date of the goods is earlier than the certification date, and there is no bureaucratic way to fix it after the fact.
The result of a late request is a consignment held up at destination, with a buyer who isn't at fault. It is the most expensive mistake in the subject, and it always has the same cause: nobody asked in time.
Notes on sources
- Legislative Decree No 32 of 2 February 2021, full text: Article 10(2) for the hourly calculation, the minimum fraction of one minute and the exclusion of travel time (quoted, our translation); Article 8(1) for the 30 per cent surcharge; Article 8(4) for the 0.5 per cent surcharge. The amount of the hourly rate is in Annex 3, published as an image and so not readable in the text: for this reason the amount is taken from an ASL that states it, and not presented as a figure from the decree.
- ASL TO5, health certification for export of food, feed and FCM, for the three working days' notice (quoted, our translation), for the three addresses by branch and for the obligation to document payment. Page opened on 6 September 2026, last update stated 19 August 2026. The fee schedule with €80 an hour, €60, €20 and €100 a year per plant and third country is the document on fees for issuing export certificates published by the same health authority.
- Novara ASL, requesting health certification for export, for the five working days' notice (quoted, our translation) and for the identity document among the attachments.
- ASL 3 Liguria, health certificates for export to third countries, for the packing list among the attachments, for urgent issue within 24 hours and for the 30% surcharge on the standard fee. Last update stated 5 January 2026.
- The fees and notice periods cited are those stated by the three named health authorities, at the date of checking. They aren't national values and shouldn't be used as such: your ASL publishes its own, and those are the ones that will be applied to you.
The notice period isn't a courtesy. It is a line in the quote.
Thirty per cent more for a request that arrived with less than twenty-four hours is the exact price of a date nobody looked at. With Itria we start from the outside to build custom digital systems for exporters. For you that translates into more requests, fewer losses and less manual work. Write us a line about what weighs on you. We take the first step: what a buyer sees when they look you up, and what we found there. Even if we don't end up working together.