Notice:  APHIS Acceptance of Electronic Signatures from USDA Accredited Veterinarians

Effectively immediately, APHIS will accept U.S. veterinary export health certificates for live animals and germplasm that have been electronically signed and issued by a USDA Accredited Veterinarian through the Veterinary Export Health Certification System (VEHCS), a secure, online United States government-owned system controlled by APHIS.  There will be no change made to Competent Authority signature/endorsement of the veterinary export health certificate. If digital endorsement is not permitted by a given trading partner, APHIS will continue to apply an ink (wet) signature and embossed seal to veterinary export health certificates during endorsement. Regardless of the type of signatures applied, an original, hardcopy of the veterinary export health certificate will travel with the shipment during the export process.