The customs frame, and why no rate appears here
The document travelling with the load into Croatia is the A.TR movement certificate, issued for that shipment and matched to the invoice and packing list.
A load of filled bars, lokum and gelled sweets does not sit under a single heading, so the written offer carries the customs tariff heading line by line. What is charged against those headings is read by your broker at clearance: the quotation states what applies on the day it is issued.
What the supplier side issues, line by line
Per line, in writing: our technical specification, the ingredient list with allergens identified, the net weight, and the batch analysis report for the lot actually loaded.
With the goods travel the commercial invoice and a packing list built pallet by pallet.
Where a producer holds food safety, halal or kosher certification, copies join that file — and they are issued for our factory. Certification follows the plant that runs the line, not the exporter who consolidates it. So the answer is a map: which producer makes which item, and what it holds. Nothing is reissued on a trading company's letterhead.
Croatian on the pack, and the name only the importer can give
On the Croatian shelf the EU food information rules put the mandatory particulars in Croatian: the name of the food, the ingredients with allergens emphasised inside the list, the net quantity, storage conditions, the date marking and the batch code.
One field is not ours to fill. The pack names the operator first placing the food on the EU market — the importer. We make the line in our own factory and load it; neither belongs in that field, and the customs declaration sits on the same side. On private label the label text is drafted from our specification, and nothing goes to print without writtenapproval.
Two names to check before the print run
Two words cause most reprints. The first is the coating: a bar finished with a vegetable-fat glaze instead of cocoa butter cannot be labelled chocolate in the EU. The specification says per line which of the two an item carries, and the pack text follows it, not the sales description.
The second is the jar. Buyers search for pistachio «paste», and the word is worth using in an enquiry — but on the pack it is a spread, not cream, and it is not the 100 per cent pastry paste bought by the kilo. That grade sits outside the main range, sourced on request once composition and format are confirmed.
How the load is built, and at what temperature
The minimum is set per line and written into the offer — not per container. That is why a first order can carry six or seven items in measured quantities instead of one item repeated. Each line rides on its own pallet, under a single packing list and a single movement certificate — that is what makes a mixed container work.
Chocolate and chocolate-coated lines travel at +18/+20 °C, so in hot months a refrigerated container is offered. If a dry container is preferred instead, the temperature risk passes to the buyer in writing, before loading. Lokum, sugared almonds and gelled sweets go dry all year.
What to send
Send the references you want quoted with a quantity against each, the pack format per line, whether the goods carry your brand or ours, the delivery address or port, and any label template you use. If the loading month is a warm one, say so: that decides the container.
The written offer follows within two working days: technical specification, ingredients and allergens, net weight, carton and pallet data, minimum per line and tariff heading. Payment runs 50 per cent at order and 50 per cent before the container leaves, against loading photographs. The sequence is set out in how we work.
Which language do the mandatory particulars have to be in?
Croatian, for goods sold on the Croatian market. The text is drafted and signed off on the importer's side, out of our technical specification, ingredient and allergen data and net weight that we supply per line.
Can the certificates be issued in our company's name?
No. Food safety, halal and kosher certificates are issued for our factory, for its plant and itslines. We state line by line which certificates apply, and copies are available on request.
Is the jar the same thing as pistachio paste?
No. What travels is a spread for the retail shelf, not the 100 per cent pastry paste bought by the kilo for confectionery work. That grade is outside the main range and can be sourced on request after we confirm composition and format.
