An undertaking or self-employed person has to submit a notice of economic activities to the Agriculture and Food Board (AFB) or apply for an activity licence before starting any economic activities.
Activity license is required for the following activities:
-
Preparation of food of animal origin in a processing plant
-
Egg packaging, grading of eggs into quality and weight classes
-
Domestic preparation of food of animal origin where the products are distributed to another handler and the activity is not marginal, localized, and restricted
-
Handling of food of animal origin in retail trade
-
Catering in preschool establishments, basic schools, upper secondary schools, health and welfare institutions, detention facilities, and the Defense Forces
-
Preparation and sale of food of animal origin in a mobile and/or temporary handling location (such as sales tents, kiosks and trucks) when the products are distributed to another company
-
Packaging or freezing of food of animal origin produced in another company
-
Food processing with ionizing radiation
-
Sprout production i.e. germination
For a list of the fields of handling and food groups covered by activity licences, see Annex 2 to Regulation No. 63 of the Minister of Agriculture.
Document forms can be found on the AFB’s website.
Cross-border activities
If an undertaking has been established and acts as a food business operator in a field of handling that requires an activity licence in another Contracting State of the European Economic Area and wishes to operate in the same field of handling on a permanent basis in Estonia, it must hold an activity licence before commencing activities in Estonia.
Submission of an application
The application for an activity licence can be submitted:
- via the customer portal of the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture;
- by post or e-mail to the AFB’s regional office of the location of the undertaking;
- via a notary.
The activity licence application forms are available on the AFB’s website.
In order to obtain an activity licence, the following documents must be attached to the application:
- the layout of the rooms along with the layout of the machinery, equipment and indoor water supply and sewerage lines. All the water points must be numbered in the layout of the water supply network. The layout of the rooms must indicate paths of movement of food, packaging materials, waste and staff;
- the numeric values of the relevant regulated parameter of the rooms with a regulated temperature or the rooms with relative humidity or the rooms with regulated temperature and relative humidity;
- the technological scheme of the handling process along with parameters that are of relevance from the point of view of food safety and a short description of the technology;
- the designed and planned or actual handling capacity, including the capacity of the storage facilities;
- the test protocols of the water used in the undertaking, which focus on the indicators investigated in the course of the regular examination of drinking water prescribed by subsection 2 of § 85 of the Water Act. The test protocols must be issued by an accredited laboratory for drinking water analysis;
- the cleaning and disinfection plan that contains information on the measures taken and substances used for cleaning and disinfecting the equipment and rooms;
- the pest control plan that contains information on the measures taken for controlling pests;
- the plan for the collection, removal and inactivation of food waste, by-products not used for food and other waste, which contains information on the measures taken for collecting, removing and inactivating these;
- the food hygiene training plan of the employees coming into contact with food;
- information on the means of transport used for the carriage of food and a description of cleaning the means of transport and circulating transportation packaging.
In order to obtain an activity licence for the slaughter and processing of animals, the following information must be submitted in addition to that set out above:
- the maximum number of animals per hour for each slaughter line;
- the animal species and weights for which the restraining or stunning equipment available may be used;
- the maximum capacity for each lairage area.
Undertakings that have submitted a notice of economic activities and undertakings that hold an activity licence can be found in a public database.
Processing of an application
A regional centre of the Agriculture and Food Board (AFB) processes the application for a licence within 30 days. This is done by verifying the data and documents submitted and carrying out an on-site assessment of the conformity of the undertaking to the submitted data and applicable requirements.
Generally, operating licences are issued for an unlimited term, but temporary operating licences can be issued, where necessary, for a term of up to three months.
Amendment, suspension or termination of an operating licence
The AFB must be notified within 5 working days of any change of the field of handling or the food group, as well as of suspension or termination of activity.
The notifications on change, suspension or termination of activity can be submitted by the same means as initial licence applications.
Supervision
The Agriculture and Food Board supervises the compliance of food and food handling.
Supervision fee shall be paid for the assessment of the compliance of food handling.
Contact details
Substantive information
Agriculture and Food Board, tel: +372 605 1710, e-mail: [email protected]
Registry information and technical questions
Client portal of the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture, e-mail: [email protected]