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Carpathian ProvisionsSourcing & trade brokerage

Quality & compliance

Quality & compliance

Two lanes, two regimes. This page states plainly what applies, and what our role is in it — because a serious buyer will check.

Greece, Italy, Germany, Spain, Croatia and the wider Balkans

Intra-EU markets

  • Goods move in free circulation within the single market. There is no border health certificate and no SPS inspection between member states.
  • What matters is origin: product must come from an establishment approved under Regulation (EC) 853/2004 and carry the EU identification / health mark with the approval number.
  • Live animals move with TRACES intra-Union certification and welfare-compliant transport under Regulation (EC) 1/2005.
  • General food hygiene and traceability obligations apply throughout — Regulation (EC) 852/2004 and 178/2002 — so a batch can be traced back to the holding.

United Kingdom (post-Brexit), GCC and wider Middle East

Third-country markets

  • An Export Health Certificate signed by an official veterinarian is required, lodged through TRACES-NT with the destination model certificate.
  • United Kingdom: the UK importer pre-notifies via IPAFFS, and consignments are subject to Border Control Post documentary, identity and physical checks.
  • GCC: halal certification from a recognised body is required in addition to the EHC, and market access depends on current animal health status.
  • Live export to third countries carries genuine suspension risk on disease status. We state that up front rather than quote a lane that may close.

Our role — stated precisely

  • We vet and select farm-direct sources for traceability, consistency and welfare practice.
  • We verify that the establishment approval and identification marks required for your destination are in place and current.
  • We coordinate the correct documentation set for each destination, and the cold-chain partner that carries it.
  • The approvals, health marks and certificates belong to the farms and EU-approved processors. We confirm them; we do not issue or hold them.
  • The farm or approved establishment is the exporter and shipper of record. We are the intermediary between them and you.

Source-specific approvals

Establishment approval numbers, certificate models and halal certification bodies are confirmed per source and per consignment, and are supplied in writing with the offer. We do not publish approvals we cannot evidence on the day you ask — where a source or establishment is still being confirmed it is shown as pending: [ESTABLISHMENT APPROVALS — TO BE CONFIRMED PER SOURCE].

Carpathian Provisions / SDB UK Developments Ltd acts as sourcing agent and trade intermediary. The farms and EU-approved establishments are the exporters and shippers of record; they hold the approvals, health marks and certificates. We source, vet, broker and coordinate — we do not own, process, ship or hold title to the goods.

Carpathian Provisions is a trading name of SDB UK Developments Ltd, a company registered in England & Wales, company no. 12747873.