As of 1 April 2026 the costs of import controls carried out by Skal Biocontrole on consignments entering the Netherlands from outside the European Union will be passed on to importers. This also applies to your company if the company is established in Europe and imports products via the Netherlands. Previously, these costs were covered by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature.
Skal charges an annual system maintenance fee to cover the costs of the control system. This fee is separate from the handling fee for each organic consignment’s Certificate of Inspection (COI).
Skal will charge you the system maintenance fee once your first COI for that calendar year has been endorsed.
The amount of this system maintenance fee is:
Until April 1 2026, the Ministry will continue to cover the costs. Consequently, the annual system maintenance fee for 2026 will be 25% lower and amounts to €530,25.
Please note that the system maintenance fee is non-refundable when you stop importing organic products during a calendar year.
When Skal checks and endorses a COI (by signing off field 30 in TRACES), the following standard handling fees apply:
When Skal verifies your documents on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday at your request a 100% surcharge applies. On business days between 18.00 and 22.00 CET, a 50% surcharge applies.
Charging for import consignment controls is a new process for Skal. To ensure that this happens correctly, we will be using an importer register. Do you have an import company based in the Netherlands and do you intend to continue importing organic consignments from outside the EU after 1 April 2026? In that case, please register your company with us as soon as possible. Your registration will only be used to allow us to carry out the controls and send invoices. Registration is possible free of charge until 1 April 2026 by sending an email to import@skal.nl.
If you intend to stop importing organic products after 1 April 2026, please let us know. We will remove the import activities from your organic certificate. To inform us of the end of your organic import activities, you can send an email to import@skal.nl.
Import companies that register after 1 April 2026 must pay a mandatory registration fee.
The registration fee is based on the time it takes Skal to process an importer’s registration.
Does your company import goods via the Netherlands, but is your import business based in another European country? Skal will need your company information to be able to invoice these costs. We will enter this information in our existing administrative system. We will only use this information to send you invoices. If you provide us with this information before 1 April 2026, no registration fee applies. If you register your company after 1 April 2026, you will be charged a registration fee. Complete the registration form for European importers.
Import businesses that register after 1 April 2026 must pay a mandatory registration fee.
The registration fee is based on the time it takes Skal to process an importer’s registration.