Export health certificate?

[Hev&Jon]

Hello Everyone,

Will we need one of these to travel to France with our dogs as well as an EU Pet Passport?

Also, I've read in several places that you have to wait for six months after a successful rabies blood test before you can travel.  Is this correct?  Probably not going by one of the replies to my previous posting about vaccinations which said that it's not even necessary to have a blood test to get a passport issued!  We don't intend to re-enter the UK with our dogs (certainly not in the near future anyway) as we are moving to France permenantly.

Many thanks,

Heather & Jon.

[Robbie34]

There are no export health certificates for the movement of domestic pets within the EU.  The purpose of the Pet's Passport was to regularise this.

You only have to wait six months to enter the UK following a successful blood test.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Robbie34"]

There are no export health certificates for the movement of domestic pets within the EU.  The purpose of the Pet's Passport was to regularise this.

You only have to wait six months to enter the UK following a successful blood test.

[/quote]

Sorry but you are wrong. You can use an export certificate to bring animals over but of course you won't be able to get them back to the UK without a passport. We exported three cats and our dog had a passport and there were no problems.

[Deimos]

The Pet Passport is not a UK invention but an EU invention

and is used for pets travelling between all participating EU (and some other)

countries.  It is only the UK (and Ireland

and Malta I think) that require the blood test/6month wait.  Sweden also have its own rules about tick

and tapeworm treatments (required within 10 days of entering the country).

 

A few excerpts from DEFRA Factsheets:

"If a blood test is not necessary, or is to be carried

out in another EU country, you can get a passport after your pet has been

microchipped and vaccinated against rabies."

(http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/factsheet/eufactsheet3a.pdf)

"Defra does not charge vets for the passport." (http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/factsheet/eufactsheet3a.pdf)

"To travel from the UK to another EU country, a pet

must be microchipped (although some countries accept a tattoo), vaccinated

against rabies (although Sweden does not require this when a pet

travels direct from the UK) and issued with an EU pet passport." (http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/factsheet/eufactsheet3a.pdf)

"For EU countries where more stringent entry

requirements do not apply, the EU has introduced a wait of 21 days from the date of

the first rabies vaccination before a pet can enter those EU

countries."  (http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/factsheet/eufactsheet3a.pdf)

"The passport has replaced the export health certificate

for entry to other EU countries from the UK and permits travel  between EU

countries."

(http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/factsheet/petseurope.pdf)

 

[Robbie34]

If you read the preamble by the EC at the implimentation of the Pet's Passport scheme you will see that the documentation for movement of cats and dogs - now ferrets - was via a Pet's Passport only.  Horses and other animals need the relevant paperwork - I think all equines now need a passport.

[Eslier]

[quote user="Quillan"][quote user="Robbie34"]

There are no export health certificates for the movement of domestic pets within the EU.  The purpose of the Pet's Passport was to regularise this.

You only have to wait six months to enter the UK following a successful blood test.

[/quote]

Sorry but you are wrong. You can use an export certificate to bring animals over but of course you won't be able to get them back to the UK without a passport. We exported three cats and our dog had a passport and there were no problems.

[/quote]

No I'm sorry Quillan but you are a bit out of date. The old  UK Export Certificate system was discontinued some time during 2004. The ONLY official way to take your cat or dog between the UK and France is with an EU Pets Passport.

[Quillan]

Well thats a bit strange because a friend has just bought back two resue cats from the Isle of White three weeks back and did it on export certificates because they would never go back to the UK. To be sure I will ask them if I can see it (the certificate) next time I am there to ensure thats what they have. Aslo it's what I used to bring my cats over with no problems.

Likewise I travel back and forth across the France Spain border with my dog and have been stopped several times (not for the dog but for fags and booze) and all I have is my French rabies certificate which has no mention of passort etc on it, it's just one piece of  A5 paper which is renewed every year when he gets his jab.

[Deimos]

DEFRA say the UK Export Certificate is now replaced by the

Pet Passport (http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/factsheet/petseurope.pdf).

In theory, travel between EU countries should require a Pet

Passport.  Certainly somebody I know who

visited Barcelona last summer (a dog breeder) used Pet Passports for the

visit.  Maybe local border controls are

relaxed about things (maybe because the Pet Passport have only been available

in much of France for a year or so), so they accept the same paperwork they

used to allow.  My own vet did not

charge for a Pet Passport (done at the same time as rabies vaccination) so may

be worth getting one next booster.

The Rabies vaccination certificates must vary around the

place as mine is A4 not A5.  The first

year it’s a blue one, subsequent years red/pink (that's 1st year vaccinated in France blue, not first rabies vaccination - which in one dog's case was in the UK).

Ian

[Robbie34]

It wouldn't surprise me if they did.  However, I'll bet they were never asked to show them on the French side.

Many English vets are not au fait with the Pet's Passport scheme so probably just issued an export certificate in ignorance.  I have never been asked for my dog's passport when entering France, and sometimes when leaving the UK.  Of course, it's scrutinised when returning to the UK.