Guides / IPAFFS pre-notification · Updated 30 September 2026

IPAFFS pre-notification: which imports, who submits and how it links to customs

Live animals, animal products, high-risk food and feed and many plants must be pre-notified on IPAFFS before they reach Great Britain. Here is who does it, when, and how the CHED reference ties the notification to your customs declaration.

This guide is also available in Polish.

What IPAFFS is and why it matters

IPAFFS, the Import of Products, Animals, Food and Feed System, is the Defra service used to tell the authorities in Great Britain that certain regulated goods are on their way. It sits alongside the customs declaration rather than replacing it. The customs declaration, lodged in CDS, deals with duty, VAT and trade controls; the IPAFFS notification deals with animal health, public health and plant health. For controlled goods you need both, and the two have to agree with each other before the goods can be cleared.

A common misunderstanding is that IPAFFS is an optional extra that a haulier or port sorts out on arrival. It is not. The IIN VCAP import information note for animal products describes giving an import notification as a legal requirement, and gov.uk states that the person who raises the notification is responsible for the consignment from when it enters Great Britain until the authorities complete their checks.

Which imports need a pre-notification

The gov.uk IPAFFS guidance lists the categories that must be notified before they arrive in Great Britain, whether they come from EU or non-EU countries:

• live animals
• germinal products
• animal by-products
• high-risk food and feed not of animal origin
• products of animal origin
• composite food products
• medium and high-risk plants and plant products

Whether a specific product falls into one of these groups depends on its commodity code, its origin and the risk category Defra assigns to it. Two consignments that look similar on a packing list, for example a cheese and a cheese-containing ready meal, can sit in different categories. It is worth checking the classification before you book the shipment rather than at the border.

Who submits the notification

According to gov.uk, importers and import agents acting on behalf of importers register for IPAFFS and submit notifications. In practice that means one of three set-ups:

• the importer registers and raises notifications itself;
• a customs or import agent raises them on the importer's behalf; or
• the importer and agent split the work, with the agent preparing the notification and the importer supplying health certificates and commercial data.

Whoever presses submit, the notification must describe the real consignment: the right commodity, weight, origin, consignor, consignee and point of entry. If an agent submits it, make sure you agree in writing who keeps the notification up to date if the vehicle, sailing or arrival date changes. If you are still deciding whether to use an agent at all, our page on whether you need a customs broker sets out the trade-offs.

Timing: what the official guidance actually says

Notice periods are the part of IPAFFS most often misquoted, so it is worth being precise about the sources.

The general gov.uk IPAFFS page says only that notifications must be submitted before the listed goods arrive. It does not set a single universal notice period for every category.

For animal products, the Import Information Note on veterinary checks on animal products (IIN VCAP) states that the person responsible for the consignment must give notice at least one working day before arrival, with a derogation to 4 hours before arrival if there are logistical constraints.

Other categories, such as live animals and plants, have their own import information notes and guidance. Check the note for your specific category rather than assuming the animal-products rule applies. A figure you find on a forum or a blog, including a flat hours-based rule for everything, should be treated with caution unless it is backed by the current Defra or APHA note for your goods.

How IPAFFS links to the customs declaration

When an IPAFFS notification is submitted it generates a Common Health Entry Document (CHED) reference. That reference has to be quoted on the customs declaration. HMRC's guidance on SPS goods and the Border Trade Matching Service (BTMS) explains how the link works:

• The CHED reference goes in data element 2/3 (documents and certificates) of the declaration, in the format GBCHDyyyy.nnnnnnn, where yyyy is the year of the pre-notification and nnnnnnn is the seven-digit CHED number.
• The document code depends on the CHED type: C640 for live animals (CHED-A), N853 for products of animal origin (CHED-P), C678 for high-risk food not of animal origin (CHED-D) and C085 for plants and plant products (CHED-PP).
• When the declaration is submitted, BTMS looks for the matching IPAFFS pre-notification and compares the CHED reference, net weight and commodity code.

If the data does not match, BTMS returns an X00 "no match" message. The error has to be corrected either in IPAFFS (by amending, or deleting and resubmitting, the notification) or in CDS. BTMS then re-runs the match and, once it succeeds, sends a decision to CDS. The guidance is clear that if the mismatch is not corrected, the customs declaration will not be cleared.

This is why IPAFFS and customs cannot be handled in isolation. A net weight rounded differently, or a commodity code chosen at a different level of detail, is enough to stop the goods. For more on how the import declaration itself is built, see our guide to CDS import declarations.

What happens at the border control post

Consignments that need checks must enter through an approved border control post (BCP). IIN VCAP states that animal products may only be imported through an approved BCP, and that on arrival they undergo documentary and identity checks and possibly a physical examination, carried out by Official Veterinary Surgeons or trained Environmental Health Officers.

If the checks are satisfactory, the BCP's authorised officer completes and signs the CHED, which then accompanies the consignment to its destination as proof that it has passed. If the goods fail, the note says the consignment may be rejected and must be re-exported, destroyed or subjected to special treatment, depending on the risk.

For practical questions about a specific consignment, gov.uk directs importers to the port health authority at the relevant BCP.

A practical checklist

• Confirm the commodity code and which IPAFFS category it falls into.
• Decide who registers and submits: you or your agent.
• Check the notice period in the import information note for your category.
• Make sure the arrival point is an approved BCP for your goods.
• Quote the CHED reference, correct document code, net weight and commodity code on the customs declaration exactly as in IPAFFS.
• Agree who amends the notification if the journey changes.

If you want a second explanation from a different angle, Plutos has a complete walkthrough of IPAFFS notifications; read it alongside the official notes cited below, which take precedence on timings.

Related guides

• Importing honey from Poland and the EU into Great Britain

• Importing fish and seafood into Great Britain

• Importing by air freight into UK airports: how clearance works

Sources

• Import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS) (GOV.UK)
• Importing SPS controlled goods that interact with the Border Trade Matching Service (GOV.UK)
• Veterinary checks on animal products: Import Information Note VCAP (GOV.UK)

General information, not legal, tax or customs advice. Rules change; confirm current requirements on gov.uk or with a registered agent before you ship.