Electronic Sanitary Certification for New Zealand Meat and Milk Imports 2026

Singapore's Singapore Food Agency (SFA) announced that New Zealand's Ministry for Primary Industries would move to a fully paperless sanitary-certificate arrangement for meat and milk products for food-producing animals imported into Singapore from 1 September 2026. New Zealand's eSPS certificates have the same validity as the paper sanitary certificates they replace; paper certificates are no longer issued for this scope (SFA, 1 September 2026).

Products and process covered

The transition covers imports of meat and milk products for food-producing animals from New Zealand. The electronic sanitary and phytosanitary (eSPS) data can include the certificate reference number, Harmonised System and product codes, product description, quantities and approved-establishment code. SFA states that other products are not yet included in the current eSPS Enquiry Service; future expansion is possible but is not part of the 1 September 2026 scope (SFA, 1 September 2026).

Importer and declaring-agent access

Importers and their authorised declaring agents need a Corppass account assigned to the Customs eServices digital service. They then use Singapore Customs' Electronic Sanitary and Phytosanitary (e-SPS) Enquiry Service to retrieve and trace the certificate data for permit declaration. An importer must separately inform Singapore Customs of its declaring agent through the authorisation service; a declaring agent cannot retrieve the relevant eSPS details until the importer has authorised it (SFA, 1 September 2026).

Data visibility, downloads and fees

SFA says the eSPS data is available for download to an importer's or authorised declaring agent's local drive for use in its own systems. A declaring agent can view only eSPS records relevant to the importer that authorised it, rather than all records searchable by certificate reference number. The service was provided without charge as of the 2 September 2026 SFA page update, although SFA notes that fees could be introduced later for cost recovery (SFA, 1 September 2026).

What the change does not replace

The eSPS transition changes the certificate exchange and retrieval method; it does not remove Singapore's ordinary food-import permit, declaration or food-safety requirements. eSPS is not ordinary import permits: it is the electronic certificate-data channel used alongside the applicable permit process. SFA recognises eSPS as having the same validity as the paper certificate issued by New Zealand MPI, but importers still need the relevant Singapore Customs and SFA processes and should ensure their declaring-agent authorisations are in place. The transition is not a general electronic-certification rule for every country or every product imported into Singapore (SFA, 1 September 2026).