In April 2020, the National Plant Protection Organisation of South Africa (NPPOZA) introduced the use of eCertification for the issuance of phytosanitary certificates for plant and plant products in general. Electronic stamps and signatures are used during the e-Certification process. The phytosanitary certificate contains the security features as described below and the attachments (where applicable) will be printed on normal white A4 paper with the South Africa emblem, QR code, phytosanitary certificate number, barcode and will be signed as per ISPM1 guidelines.
The following are features for the new phytosanitary certificate template for South Africa:
1 The paper format has additional security features embedded in the document that can be viewed under ultraviolet light.
2 The certificate has 2 numbers; top right-hand corner there is a barcode, which is the document number.
3 There is a second barcode and QR code as an added security feature.
4 The phytosanitary certificate number appears between the QR and the bar code, this is the number to be used on any communication in relation to issue phytosanitary certificate.
5 The new phytosanitary number starts with NPPO-ZA/yyyy/mm/number.
6 The e-phyto will only contain the new phytosanitary certificate number.
