Food and Drug Administration, Ministry of Health

Procedures for obtaining food Export Recommendations (ER)

Step 1

Exporter obtains, completes and submits application for Export Recommendation (ER) along with necessary supporting documents to the Department of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Ministry of Health. Application of individual ER is required for every single type of food item except the food items that are already registered at the FDA and allowed to produce domestically. The supporting documents must contain buyer’s specification (if necessary) and food item with original packaging or if food item with big size packaging is uneasy to provide, a photo or branding of such food item is required to provide to the FDA. The sample amount will be 1500 g.

Step 2

There will be form fees for exporter. After submitting the forms and sample food item for laboratory testing to the FDA, FDA will check the forms and test the provided sample food. For the incorrect and incomplete documents as well as for the failed lab test result, FDA will send the reject letter to the exporter with reason.

Step 3

For the correct and complete application form and the result of passed test result, FDA will issue the Export Recommendation (ER) to the exporter. The exporter collects export recommendation (ER) from the FDA and the process of ER end here. The exporter can continue to apply export license at the Export/Import Business Division under the Ministry of Commerce.

Note: It will take a day at the Document and Sampling Receiving Unit. It may take 1 to 2 days for obtaining the approval from the Director General office. It will take 1 to 25 days for analyzing the sample products at the lab. The Overall process will take from 14 to 31 days.