QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS CONCERNING PET
PASSPORTS
1.
I am living in the EU. Where can I get the
pet passport?
You must contact a
veterinarian in your home country. The national
authorities in every EU country are responsible
for issuing the passport to the vets. Please
note that the European Commission does not
issue the pet passport.
2.
Which animals are covered?
The new EU-system is
for cats, dogs and ferrets. For other pets,
there is not yet harmonised legislation at the
EU level, so national legislation applies.
3.
How does the pet passport work?
For movements of pets
between EU Member States other than Ireland,
Sweden, Malta and the United Kingdom, valid
rabies vaccination is the only requirement for
travel across borders. You should simply go to
your vet, who will vaccinate your pet and enter
the appropriate information in the pet
passport.
An electronic
microchip (transponder) will allow for easy
identification of the animals, to connect the
pet to the passport. Until 3 July 2011, a
tattoo will be allowed as a way to identify the
animal, except for the UK, Ireland and Malta
which already now require the transponder.
Young pets which cannot be vaccinated yet may
be allowed to travel without vaccination on
the
conditions defined by each Member State.
For the entry of animals into Ireland, Sweden,
Malta or the United Kingdom, antibody titration
(a test to see if the vaccine has been
effective) needs to be carried out after the
vaccination.
The EU pet passport
has been designed to last for the lifetime of
the animal bearing it. When travelling, the pet
owner must ensure that the rabies vaccination
in the passport is valid or renew the pet's
vaccination. Some Member States might also
choose to include additional information in the
passport about other vaccinations and the
animal's medical history to make veterinary
checks easier, but this additional information
is not required by EU law.
The EU pet passport
makes veterinary checks easier and make life
easier for travelling pet owners, since there
is one single system that applies for all EU
countries (with some temporary exceptions for
the UK, Ireland, Malta and Sweden).
4.
I am travelling to an EU Member State from a
non-EU country. Can I use the pet
passport?
No, in principle the
pet passport is only used for pets travelling
between Member States of the European Union.
However, you can also use the pet passport if
you are travelling to or from one of the
neighbouring countries where the rabies status
matches that of the EU. This includes: Andorra,
Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Norway, San
Marino, Switzerland and the Vatican City
State.
For pets entering the
EU from another country, there are two
different possibilities :
- either you come from
a country with a favourable situation
regarding rabies and animal health
* (for
more information on this list of countries,
see
here);
-
- or you come from a
country that does not appear on the footnote
list above, which means that rabies may be
endemic among domestic pets in your country.
In this case, your pet must be vaccinated and
tested three months before entering all EU
countries except for Ireland, Sweden, Malta
and the UK, where quarantine will be
required.
-
- In both cases, you
can use the health certificate found under
"Document" on the following
webpage. Your
veterinarian must complete the health
certificate either in English or in the
language of the country you are travelling
to. If your veterinarian does not have the
health certificate, you can download it from
the above website as a Word document in the
language of the EU country that you are
travelling to.
-
- Finally, an animal
from a Member State that temporarily stayed
in a third country will of course be able to
come back on the territory of the European
Union if it is accompanied by its passport,
notwithstanding the fact that the animal must
be in conformity with the rules that apply to
entries from the country where it
stayed.
5.
I live in one of the non-continental EU
territories, for example Martinique or the
Canary Islands. Can I use the pet
passport?
Yes, you can use the
pet passport if you are travelling to or from
the following territories:
- Greenland and the
Faroe Islands (Danish pet passport);
- French Guiana,
Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion (French pet
passport);
- Canary Islands
(Spanish pet passport);
- Azores and Madeira
(Portuguese pet passport);
- Gibraltar (specific
Gibraltar pet passport, not UK pet
passport).
6.
I am a non-EU citizen but I will live in the
EU with my pet for several years. Can I get a
pet passport to use within the EU during this
time?
Yes. You should
contact a veterinarian in any of the EU Member
States to get the necessary vaccination and
obtain a passport for your pet.
7.
What rules apply to pets travelling alone,
without their owner, to participate in a fair
or exhibition? Do the same rules apply as for
regular non-commercial movements of
animals?
Yes. The new system
considers "commercial movements" to be for
animals moving to another country to be sold
while all other types of movement are
"non-commercial". Therefore animals travelling
to exhibitions etc would be considered a
"non-commercial movement" and covered by the
rules outlined in this Q&A. For travel
within the EU, the animal must be accompanied
by the pet passport. Pets coming from outside
the EU must be accompanied by the relevant
health certificate or other documents as
outlined in Question 4.
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