Updated May 2004
1. TO WHOM DOES THE NEW UK PET TRAVEL SCHEME APPLY?
2. WHAT TREATMENT IS REQUIRED?
3. WHICH CHIPS SHOULD BE USED?
4. ARE ANY OTHER COUNTRIES GOING
TO BE INCLUDED IN THE SCHEME AND WHEN?
5. WHAT ABOUT PETS FROM THE REST
OF THE WORLD?
6. DO PETS LIVING IN UK QUALIFY
FOR UNRESTRICTED MOVEMENT?
7. DOES THE TREATMENT HAVE TO BE
REPEATED?
8. HOW CAN I TRAVEL INTO UK?
9. DO MANY PEOPLE SMUGGLE THEIR
PETS INTO BRITAIN?
10. WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE PEOPLE
AND THEIR PETS IF THEY ARE DETECTED?
11. WHAT CAN I DO T0 HELP THE
QUAFF CAMPAIGN?
12. IF I DECIDE TO USE A
QUARANTINE KENNEL, CAN YOU HELP?
13. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF
THE FRENCH REQUIREMENT FOR TATTOOES?
14. HOW DO I OBTAIN THE REQUIRED
CERTIFICATES?
15. WHAT HAPPENS IF MY PET HAS
BEEN CHIPPED, VACCINATED AND BLOODTESTED IN THE EU BUT HAS TO RETURN TO UK
BEFORE THE 6 MONTHS PERIOD HAS EXPIRED?
16. CAN I TRAVEL FREELY TO EUROPE
WITH PETS?
17. WHAT IS EARLY RELEASE
PROCEDURE?
18. WHICH LABORATORIES ARE APPROVED FOR PETS TESTING?
19. WHAT IS THE EU PET TRAVEL SCHEME ALL ABOUT?
1. TO WHOM DOES THE UK PET TRAVEL SCHEME (PETS) APPLY?
The PETS scheme permits freedom of movement for appropriately treated and certificated pet cats and dogs only between the UK and countries listed below. Access between UK and the Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man is unrestricted.
EUROPEAN UNION:
Austria, Belgium, Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Vatican PLUS Czech
Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Republic of Cyprus (not Turkish republic of Cyprus), and Malta.
THIRD
(NON_EU) COUNTRIES – LOW RISK (Some also referred to as LONG HAUL
countries): Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Ascension Island, Australia,
Bahrain, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Falkland Islands,
Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Guyana,
French Polynesia, Gibraltar, Greenland, Grenadines, Guadaloupe, Hawaii,
Iceland, Jamaica, Japan, Liechtenstein,
Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Monaco, Monserrat, Netherlands Antilles, New
Caledonia, New Zealand, Norway, Reunion, Singapore, St Helena, St Kitts &
Nevis, St Pierre Miquelon, St Vincent, San Marino, USA (mainland), Switzerland,
Vanuatu, Vatican, Wallis & Futuna.
2. WHAT TREATMENT IS REQUIRED?
Dogs and cats must be microchipped (this can be done in any country) then (re-)vaccinated against rabies by a licensed vet in one of the approved countries, then blood tested in by approved laboratory. They must then wait in one of the approved countries for 6 months from the date on which the sample was drawn before being allowed into UK. In a window of 24-48 hours before embarking for the UK they must then be treated for ticks and worms. They must be in possession of two official certificates to prove the above treatments.
From 3 July, pets arriving from another Member State must
have an EU Pet Passport which will be available from EU vets in the near
future. Pets arriving form a third country must have an official EU Veterinary
Health Certificate in the language of the country of arrival (and English).
3. WHICH CHIPS SHOULD BE USED?
Any chip that is readable by vets in the EU and by the
checkers at the point of entry is acceptable. You may provide your own reader
if you wish. The recommended standard
of chip is one that conforms to ISO 11784 or to Annex A to ISO 11785. QUAFF can
supply chips and readers to its members.
4. ARE ANY OTHER COUNTRIES GOING TO
BE INCLUDED IN THE SCHEME AND WHEN?
Other islands under
consideration and which may be included later, are:
Cook Islands, Cape Verde, St Lucia, Seychelles and Taiwan.
5. WHAT ABOUT PETS FROM THE REST OF
THE WORLD?
Until and unless this changes, pet cats and dogs face 6
months in quarantine kennels in UK unless they can be homed somewhere in the
European Community or another APPROVED country for the 6 month qualifying
period. BUT SEE PARA 16 BELOW.
6. DO PETS LIVING IN UK QUALIFY FOR
UNRESTRICTED MOVEMENT?
Yes, as long as they have been similarly treated (see para
2) but they cannot return to UK until 6 months have elapsed from the date of
the blood sample being drawn.
7. DOES THE TREATMENT HAVE TO BE
REPEATED?
The pet's blood test result certificate lasts for the
lifetime of the pet as long as its
vaccinations remain in force without a break. If there is a break in vaccination
history, the whole procedure, including the 6-month wait, must be repeated. The
Pet Travel Certificate has to be renewed by an EU vet each time the pet is
re-vaccinated. The tick and worm treatment must be carried out at every occasion of entry to UK.
8. HOW CAN I TRAVEL INTO UK?
You can only use a licensed carrier on an approved route.
The current list is available on the DEFRA website.
9. DO MANY PEOPLE SMUGGLE THEIR PETS
INTO BRITAIN?
Yes - regrettably, although since the advent of the new
scheme numbers are almost certainly dropping. QUAFF policy is to neither
condemn nor condone the illegal entry of pets that have been vaccinated and
blood tested iaw the requirements of UKPETS . This enables us to discuss in
confidence such movement and to build a picture of how and how much this
happens in order to add to the logical arguments for a change in the law. We
believe that as many as 5000 animals a year have been imported on the quiet in
the past.
The Ministry of Agriculture requested our estimates on pet
smuggling (anonymous anecdotes only) for use in the Kennedy Report. We tried to
help - and gave them a carefully researched estimate of how many pet animals
were being smuggled in every week but they did not like the answer. Perhaps
this was because it knocked something of a hole in their oft-quoted boast ‘It
is only thanks to quarantine that Britain remains rabies-free'. Nevertheless,
our educated guesstimates do coincide quite neatly with a sustained drop in the
Ministry’s own Quarantine Kennel occupancy figures. Until 1994 when the Select
Committee to Agriculture’s unanimous proposals for immediate reform were
rejected, there had been a continuous upward curve in import licences for dogs
and cats. Since then, there has been a dramatic and consistent downward slide
in import licence figures.
10. WHAT HAPPENS TO THOSE PEOPLE AND
THEIR PETS IF THEY ARE DETECTED?
In theory the owner could be imprisoned for up to 12 months
and be given an unlimited fine. In practice the average fine over the last few
years has been £500 -£600 per animal smuggled. Occasionally fines have been
higher than this but when this has happened the amount has usually been reduced
on appeal. Occasionally people have been detained in police cells for a few
hours, while charges against them were being prepared. A prosecution for pet
‘smuggling’ carries with it a probable criminal record.
Smuggled animals are NOT routinely destroyed, as the
Ministry sometimes tells people. Detected animals will usually be taken to a
quarantine kennel for 15 days after which they may be re-exported to any country.
If the owner neither re-exports the animal(s) nor agrees to pay for the
Quarantine bill, it/they may then be humanely destroyed after a warning.
An animal detected later, within six months of arrival in
the country would be quarantined for the balance of the time ‘owing’. Officials
may not quarantine an animal AFTER it has been in the country for six months,
as a punishment to the owner, although of course the owner could still be
fined.
11. WHAT CAN I DO T0 HELP THE QUAFF
CAMPAIGN?
The most useful thing you can do is to join QUAFF as a
member. The £35 membership fee contributes to the significant running cost of
an organisation of nearly 3000 members in 40 countries, including many in
Britain and Ireland. Membership entitles you to receive our newsletters (about
6 a year), pertaining to quarantine matters and to ask for help using the
quarantine helpline. We can also supply our members with the latest microchips,
and copies of the undercover Channel 4 documentary ‘Inside Quarantine’. Various
other offers and options crop up from time to time. No officers or volunteers
at QUAFF receive any remuneration from QUAFF funds. (Only our part-time but
very professional secretary, without whom we could not manage, is paid.) Advice
is also available to members on our helpline.
Following our legal challenge against the legality of the
quarantine law, based on EC law, the Government very suddenly announced the
introduction of the Pilot Scheme. Nevertheless, we were left with a very
considerable legal bill. Our members have contributed a great deal of these
funds but we are left with an appreciable deficit. We would therefore welcome
any contributions.
However, big or small your contribution may be, QUAFF will
be most grateful and will use the money wisely and carefully. CAGED AND ENRAGED
(Run by the Armed Forces in Germany) has raised a considerable sum and Passport
for Pets have also most generously contributed. This was a fantastic
achievement and incredibly helpful. We are all extremely grateful.
We also need to keep LOBBYING, particularly for the early
inclusion of Rabies-free islands and North America. There is also no logical or
scientific reason why properly treated pets from ANY country should be
excluded. Non UK citizens should write to:
DEFRA, 1A Page Street. London SW1P 4PQ, UK
(an example is available on our What's New page dated April
2000)
and also the press in UK or to journals of their own
country, particularly to those that are likely to be read by British Embassy
and Consular staff. The more the problem is publicly aired, the sooner the
prejudices will slide away. But it is an uphill struggle in the face of 30
years of terrorising government propaganda that has been deliberately
orchestrated to grossly exaggerate the risks, in order to frighten the public
(and its next-door neighbours) into compliance with a wholly unreasonable,
unscientific, cruel and unpopular law.
12. IF I DECIDE TO USE A QUARANTINE
KENNEL, CAN YOU HELP?
Yes. We have a confidential Quarantine Kennel Report that is
available to members only and is based on reports and photographs supplied by
other members. The report contains details of all kennels in the UK with their
addresses and telephone numbers, plus the abbreviated comments from members who
have used them. (Fuller reports can be made available on request). It also
contains the DEFRA figures for deaths in Quarantine and a section with legal
advice for members having trouble with contracts, deaths in quarantine, or
having their pet held to ransom for unjustifiable financial demands. As a bona
fide member of QUAFF you can order a copy of this confidential report.
Not all quarantine kennels are ‘bad’, but some are truly
shocking and great care is necessary in selection. No one should ever send an
animal on ahead to go into quarantine without having first personally inspected
the premises. It is almost invariably better and safer to have one’s pet looked
after for a little longer in the country of origin, until suitable kennels can
be found and the owner is assured that all is as well as it can be under the
circumstances.
If you are a QUAFF member and have, or have had an animal in
quarantine, please ask us for a questionnaire so that your comments can be
recorded to help others in the same situation. Alternatively, you can download
a quarantine kennel questionnaire from the member’s page on the QUAFF website.
Photographs would also be much appreciated. The report is being constantly
updated, and may prove helpful in our Judicial Review as well as being very
helpful to other members, so please keep the information flowing in.
13. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE
FRENCH REQUIREMENT FOR TATTOOS?
Hitherto, French law has demanded that all French resident cats and dogs should be
tattooed, though this has not been rigorously applied! Notwithstanding the UK
requirements for the PET Travel Scheme, this meant that pets had to be tattooed
first, then vaccinated, then blood tested and THEN microchipped. UK DEFRA
therefore had to introduce an amendment to the legislation to permit entry to
UK of pet cats and dogs treated in accordance with this French protocol.
However the French authorities have now approved the
microchip as an alternative means of identification and all French vets have access to the chips and
the official French UK PETS Travel certificate ("Programme de voyage des
animaux de compagnie" : introduction de chat ou de chien de compagnie au
Royaume-Uni).
It is therefore no longer necessary to have pets tattooed in
France.
14. HOW DO I OBTAIN THE REQUIRED
CERTIFICATES?
Each country has its own rules. The starting point is to ask
your vet to arrange. They should be able to tell you the routine.
In France any vet may complete both certificates. In NL, GE,
BE, IT, SP and PO for example, you have to get the vet to sign and then have it
authorised by the State Veterinary office. In SP you have to take the
certificates to a bank and pay a fee! Once in possession of the vaccination
certificate and blood test certificate, you are permitted to have the official
Pet Certificate completed by an EU vet in any EU country. Similarly, the tick
and worm treatment can be carried out in any country. For those travelling
across Europe, France is the obvious choice.
15. WHAT HAPPENS IF MY PET HAS BEEN
CHIPPED, VACCINATED AND BLOODTESTED IN THE EU BUT HAS TO RETURN TO UK BEFORE
THE 6 MONTH PERIOD HAS EXPIRED?
An owner of a pet in quarantine can apply for early release
provided that the animal meets all the requirements of the Pet Travel Scheme,
including the six month rule. The tick and tapeworm treatment can either be
done and PETS certificated before entry to quarantine or given prior to
release. In either case it must not be less than 24 hours before the time of
early release. You should note that early release only applies at this time to
dogs and cats in quarantine premises in England, not Scotland or Wales.
16. MAY I TRAVEL FREELY TO EUROPE
WITH MY PETS (CATS AND DOGS)?
At the moment and until 3 july 2004 you can travel from the rest of the world at will to continental European Union countries (not UK, Sweden and Ireland where quarantine exists; see below for FRANCE) on production of a rabies vaccination certificate and health certificate. However this will all change from that date when the EU Pet Travel Scheme comes into Force. Please see the EU Pet Travel Scheme page of this website.
17. WHAT IS EARLY RELEASE PROCEDURE?
This procedure is applicable only to pet dogs and cats that
have been properly treated (i.e. chipped first, then re-vaccinated and then
successfully blood tested by an approved laboratory) in an 'approved' country
under the UK Pet Travel Scheme. If you decide to return to UK before
the 6 months from the date the blood sample was drawn has elapsed, your pet
must go into quarantine for the residual period of time only and you can apply
for early release.
Alternatively, if the 6 months has elapsed and your
vaccination papers and blood test results are perfect but either:
a. There is not a licensed carrier/route from your
'approved' country/island
b. There are not yet any official Pet Travel Certificates
available in that country/island
then you must:
a. obtain an Import Licence (by contracting a UK Quarantine
Kennel)
b. fly DIRECT from your country/island to either Heathrow or
Gatwick
c. have your pet met by the quarantine kennel and removed to
the kennel
c. and apply for early release (if the chip, vaccination
certificate and blood test result are perfect, this will take about 2/3 days).
18. WHICH LABORATORIES ARE APPROVED
FOR PETS TESTING?
Please visit:
www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/PETS/Procedures/Support-info/labs.shtml
urope.
19. WHAT IS THE EU PET TRAVEL SCHEME
ALL ABOUT?
Please see the EU Pet Travel Scheme page on our website.