European Community Non-Commercial Movement of Pet Animals: Dogs, Cats and Ferrets

1. General information

European Community (EC) regulations establish the animal health requirements applicable to non-commercial movement of dogs, cats and ferrets exported to the Community Member States. Pet animals are to be accompanied by owner or a person responsible for the animals on behalf of the owner during their movement and are not intended to be sold or transferred to another owner. A maximum of five pets are permitted. If there are more than five pets, or if they are not accompanied, contact the CFIA Office in your area for applicable certification and requirements.

Pet animals destined to Ireland, Germany, Malta and the United Kingdom must be identified with an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard microchip and reader, if a different microchip is used the owner must provide the necessary means for reading the microchip at the time of inspection; while other member States still accept clearly readable tattoo. In the next couple of years microchip identification will become mandatory for all Members States.

For all EC countries, the animals must be vaccinated against rabies with an inactivated vaccine.

Recombinant rabies vaccines are NOW permitted by European Community.

2. Certification for non-commercial movements of pet dogs, cats and ferrets:

A PDF version is available in the twenty EC official languages; all certificates include an English version. Please use appropriate version for the first point of entry into the EC (e.g. you are traveling to Italy, but you have a stop over or a change of aircraft in France, the English/French certificate is required; your pets certificate will be inspected at the first point of entry being France).

The health certificate must be completed in block letters and signed using another color other than black; blue is preferred.  All dates must be written following ISO code "dd/mm/yyyy". 

The certificate is required to be presented as a single sheet of paper; it is highly recommended to have certificates double-sided.

The certificate must be accompanied by supporting documentation or a certified copy concerning vaccination and result of serological test when required.

Note: The certificate is valid for 4 months from the date of endorsement by CFIA and is equivalent to the EU Pet Passport.

For further information or clarification on these procedures, please contact the relevant CFIA office in the province in which you reside.

3. Puppies, kittens and young ferrets

No exemptions exist for puppies, kittens and young ferrets.

4. Export Certificate for commercial movement or accompanied (more than 5 pets in the same shipment) pet dogs, cats and ferrets.

Select the country of destination for export procedures and certificate.
Model certificates are available on the European Community Website: