Feed business operator in Estonia

A company that produces, processes, stores, transports or sells animal feed in Estonia is a feed business operator. Such a business either notifies the Agriculture and Food Board or, if its establishment makes or places on the market certain feed additives or premixtures, makes certain compound feed with them, or handles medicated feed, obtains an activity licence (approval) from the Board¹²¹³¹⁴. This page sets out which applies, what the law requires and what the application contains.

Information as of 11 November 2026. Every numbered statement of this page was checked in the official text named below and re-checked by a second reviewer on 2026-11-11. The page is general information, not legal advice; the authority decides on every application.

What the activity is

A feed business operator is the natural or legal person responsible for ensuring that the feed hygiene requirements are met within the feed business under its control¹. The Estonian Feed Act (Söödaseadus, SöS) uses the same definition and takes the meaning of "feed" from Article 3(4) of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002².

The EU feed hygiene rules apply to the activities of feed business operators at all stages, from primary production of feed up to and including placing feed on the market, to the feeding of food-producing animals, and to imports and exports of feed from and to non-EU countries³.

The rules do not apply to private domestic production of feed for animals kept for private consumption or not kept for food production, to feeding animals not kept for food production, to the direct supply of small quantities of primary production of feed at local level by the producer to local farms, or to the retailing of pet food⁴.

The legal act and the authority

The acts are the Feed Act (Söödaseadus), adopted on 11 January 2007, in the redaction in force since 24 February 2025⁵, and Regulation (EC) No 183/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down requirements for feed hygiene⁶.

The competent authority is the Agriculture and Food Board (Põllumajandus- ja Toiduamet, PTA): it receives the notice of economic activities, decides on the activity licence and carries out official control of feed⁷. Registered and licensed operators are entered in the national register of food and feed business operators (riigi toidu ja sööda käitlejate register); the register data are public, except data with restricted access⁸. Approved establishments are also recorded in a national list under an individual identifying number⁹.

Who must apply

Two regimes apply, and an operator must not operate without the one that applies to it¹⁰.

Notice (registration). Every feed business operator must notify the competent authority of each establishment under its control active in production, processing, storage, transport or distribution of feed, with a view to registration¹¹. In Estonia this is done by submitting a notice of economic activities to the Agriculture and Food Board; the same notice is required for the retail sale of medicated feed intended for pets and for feeding medicated feed to fur-bearing animals¹².

Activity licence (approval). An activity licence is required in the cases of Article 10 of Regulation 183/2005 and for handling medicated feed or intermediate products, except in the case of Article 13(2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/4¹³. Article 10 covers establishments that manufacture or place on the market feed additives or premixtures listed in Annex IV of the regulation, or manufacture compound feed using such additives or premixtures (for the market or for the operator's own holdings), and any case where national law or a Commission delegated regulation requires approval¹⁴. The licence entitles the operator to act only in the establishment, or part of it, named in the licence¹⁵.

The minister in charge of the sector sets by regulation the specified lists of activities and substances for which a notice or a licence is required¹⁶; the exact category of a client's activity is checked against that list for the client's case.

Exemptions named in the acts: the activities excluded from the regulation's scope listed above⁴; and for traders that act solely as traders without holding the products on their premises, Member States are exempt from the on-site visit, and such traders submit a declaration to the competent authority¹⁷.

Requirements for the applicant

Capital, management and AML. Whether capital, own-funds, management or anti-money-laundering (AML/CFT) requirements apply is specified for the client's situation. For a legal person, the legal representative organises compliance with the duties under the Feed Act¹⁹.

Hygiene regime. Operators at the level of primary production (and associated operations) follow Annex I of the regulation; all other operators follow Annex II²⁰.

HACCP and self-check. Operators other than primary producers must put in place and maintain a permanent written procedure based on the hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) principles²¹. Under the Feed Act they prepare a self-check plan in line with Articles 6(2) and 7 and Annex II of the regulation; the self-check data are documented and kept for at least 18 months²².

Facilities. Processing and storage facilities, equipment, containers, vehicles and their surroundings must be kept clean, with effective pest control programmes²³.

Staff and key functions. The business must have sufficient staff with the necessary skills and qualifications, an organisation chart, a designated qualified person responsible for production and, where appropriate, a qualified person responsible for quality control, with access to a laboratory²⁴.

Complaints and recall. The operator must have a system for registering and processing complaints and, where necessary, for the prompt recall of products²⁵.

On-site visit. The authority approves an establishment only after an on-site visit, before start-up, shows that it meets the requirements. It may grant conditional approval; full approval is granted only if a new on-site visit within three months of the conditional approval shows that the other requirements are met, and conditional approval may not exceed six months in total²⁶.

Documents filed with the application

In addition to the data required by the General Part of the Economic Activities Code Act (majandustegevuse seadustiku üldosa seadus), an activity licence application contains the self-check plan with the following documents²⁷:

Food safety system: documents proving compliance with the HACCP principles;
Premises and equipment: documents proving that the buildings and equipment are suitable for the intended use;
Hygiene plans: a cleaning and disinfection plan and a pest control plan;
Process: a technological scheme of the handling process.

The operator must give the authority evidence of its HACCP compliance in the form the authority requests²⁸.

State fee and processing time

No state fee is paid for the adjudication of an activity licence application²⁹, nor for entering the data of a notice of economic activities in the register³⁰.

The Agriculture and Food Board decides on an activity licence application, by granting or refusing the licence, within 90 days after the application is submitted³¹. This is the time limit set by the law, not a promise of the outcome or of a date: the Board may request additional evidence in the form it chooses²⁸, and approval depends on the on-site visit²⁶.

What LexorCorp Global OÜ does and how to order

For a feed business, LexorCorp Global OÜ provides the service "Activity licence application documentation"³². It covers:

the requirements of the act for the activity, from its official text;
the application and the documents it needs;
the submission and the written follow-up of the authority's questions³³.

The price is from €3,500, one-time; LexorCorp Global OÜ is not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added³⁴. The starting price is for one licence of ordinary scope; more work is agreed in writing before it starts³³.

Not included: the state fee where one applies, legal advice, a promise of the licence, and meeting the premises or staff requirements of the act — the operator's establishment itself must meet them³³. This is application preparation, not legal, audit or tax advice. The Agriculture and Food Board alone decides on the licence; no licence, date or decision can be promised.

Order: Activity licence application documentation.

Sources

Regulation (EC) No 183/2005 Art. 3(b) — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Söödaseadus § 6(3), § 2(1) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 2(1) — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 2(2) — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Söödaseadus, header — text in force from 24.02.2025
Regulation 183/2005 title — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Söödaseadus § 18(1), § 20(1), § 24 — text in force from 24.02.2025
Söödaseadus § 23(1), (4) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 19(2) — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 11 — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 9(2)(a) — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Söödaseadus § 18(1) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Söödaseadus § 19(1) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 10 — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Söödaseadus § 19(2) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Söödaseadus § 18(2), § 19(3) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 17 — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Söödaseadus § 6(3¹) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 5(1)-(2) — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 6(1) — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Söödaseadus § 7(2)-(3) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Regulation 183/2005 Annex II, Facilities and equipment, point 1 — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Regulation 183/2005 Annex II, Personnel; Production point 1; Quality control points 1-2 — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Regulation 183/2005 Annex II, Complaints and product recall — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 13(1)-(2) — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Söödaseadus § 20(2) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Regulation 183/2005 Art. 7(1)(a) — text in force from 28.01.2022 (latest consolidated version on EUR-Lex)
Söödaseadus § 20(4) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Söödaseadus § 18(3) — text in force from 24.02.2025
Söödaseadus § 20(1) — text in force from 24.02.2025
LexorCorp Global price list and service description (price list)
LexorCorp Global price list and service description (price list)
LexorCorp Global price list and service description (price list)

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Feed business operator in Estonia: registration or approval