Bringing a dog, cat or ferret from a listed country outside the EU

Below you can read about

1. From which countries do the requirements apply?
2. Under what circumstances do these requirements apply?
3. Requirements for bringing a dog, cat or ferret which is not to be sold
4. Special requirements for animals travelling without their owner
5. Special requirements for six or more animals travelling in a group

1. From which countries do the requirements apply?

A country outside the EU with a functional rabies surveillance system is called a listed third country. There are common basic requirements for bringing a dog, cat or ferret to the EU from a listed third country. A table over the listed third countries is found on your right. Please observe that there are additional requirements for bringing a dog or cat from Malaysia and for bringing a cat from Australia.

2. Under what circumstances do these requirements apply?

The requirements apply when up to five dogs, cats or ferrets are travelling to Sweden with their owner or the owner’s representative. They also apply for animals moving to Sweden with their owner.

Example 1. You, as the owner, are buying an animal from Russia for your own company. You travel to Russia to complete the purchase and directly afterwards travel back to Sweden together with your animal. In this case the animals travels as a pet.

Example 2. You, as the owner, are buying an animal from Russia for your own company. The seller of the animal meets you in Denmark to hand over the animal. You go to Denmark, complete the purchase and thereafter bring the animal with you back to Sweden. In this case the animal must comply with the trade requirements.

Example 3. You, as the owner, are buying an animal from Russia for your own company. You and a friend of yours travel to Russia to complete the purchase. You leave for Sweden earlier than your friend who later brings the animal with him or her also back to Sweden. In case the friend travels within five days of your own trip and has an owner’s declaration for pets and a copy of your trip or ticket, it will travel as a pet. If the pet does not travel with these documents or if the friends travels more than five days later than you do, the animal must comply with the trade requirements.

3. Requirements for bringing a dog, cat or ferret which is not to be sold

The animal must be id-marked

You must start with having the animal id-marked with an ISO-microchip, which may also be called a Euro-chip.  However, if your animal was tattooed already before 3 July 2011, it does not need to be microchipped.

If the animal is checked at the border and the id-number cannot be read, the animal may be rejected.

The animal must have a valid vaccination against rabies

Primary vaccination
The animal must have a valid rabies vaccination. The very first vaccination which builds up the defence is called a primary vaccination and consists of one or two shots. The animal must be id-marked and at least twelve weeks old to have its primary vaccination. The id-marking must be done before the rabies vaccine is administered for the vaccination to be valid. If the animal already has an id-marking the id-marking must be read before administering the vaccine. It has to show in the pets veterinary certificate or passport that the id-marking or reading has been done at the latest on the same day as the vaccination. The vaccination should be administered with an approved vaccine according to the requirements in appendix III in regulation (EU) no 576/2013. Note that the administered vaccine should be approved in the country of origin and it may therefore have different validity periods in different countries.

After the primary vaccination you must wait 21 days before you are allowed to travel with your animal.
Example: Vaccination with one shot on 1 January = the animal may travel on 22 January.
Example: Vaccination with two shots on 1 January and February 1 = the animal may travel on 22 February.

Revaccination
If you want to travel more than once, you will need to revaccinate your animal regularly. How often your animal needs to be revaccinated varies between the vaccine brand and how it is registered in different countries. When the animal is vaccinated, the veterinarian fills in the data in the passport or veterinary certificate and notes the validity time registered in the country where the vaccination is given. You must follow the revaccination intervals registered in the passport or veterinary certificate, which means you must have the animal revaccinated at the latest on the last date of validity stated in the passport or veterinary certificate. If the animal is vaccinated within the validity period, the waiting period of 21 days between vaccination and travel does not apply.

Delayed revaccination
If an animal is revaccinated after last validity date of the latest rabies vaccination, the revaccination will be equal to a primary vaccination. In this case a new waiting period of 21 days applies before the animal is allowed to travel again.

The animal must have a veterinary certificate on form E9.207 or an EU passport

Veterinary certificate for one to five animals
If you are to bring one to five animals from a listed country, you need to get an official veterinarian to complete the veterinary certificate for pets. An official veterinarian is a Government veterinarian who has the right to issue export certificates. If the country has no official veterinarians, you may instead let an ordinary veterinarian issue the certificate and then have it stamped by the central veterinary authority. Please contact the authority in the country of export well before departure and ask for written information about how to do this.

You need to present the veterinarian with three documents: a certificate of identification, a certificate of rabies vaccination, and an owner’s declaration. These three documents are then to be attached to the veterinary certificate. All pages need to be numbered (for instance 1 (6), which would mean page one of a total of six pages), and the reference number at the top right corner of the veterinary certificate shall be noted on each page. Finally, the veterinarian is to stamp and sign every page.

Once the certificate has been issued, you have ten days to travel to an EU Entry Point.

EU passport
If you are returning to the EU with an animal that already has an EU passport, you do not need a veterinary certificate as long as the rabies vaccination is still valid.

The animal must have an owner’s declaration for pets

You must complete form E9.204, which is the owner’s declaration for pets. You can find it in below Forms. This means that you declare that the animal belongs to you and that you are not moving it in order to sell it. The box for authorisation at the bottom of the form is not used when you are only travelling with your animal.

The animal is to be checked at an Entry Point

An animal which comes from a non-EU country must be brought into the EU at a so-called Entry Point. Two Entry Points are available for animals that are brought directly to Sweden from a non-EU country: Arlanda airport in Stockholm, and Landvetter airport in Gothenburg.

At the Entry Point, the animal is to be checked by the customs authority. If you are to continue on to another EU country, the customs authority (the Swedish customs) has to stamp the certificate before you continue your journey.

The veterinary certificate is valid for four months for travelling within the EU from the date of the stamp, or until the rabies vaccination referred to in the certificate is no longer valid, whichever comes first.

If the animal is brought into the EU through an Entry Point in another EU country, the animal is to be checked there and the veterinary certificate stamped before the animal is allowed to continue. The animal may then be brought into Sweden through any customs location, where you are to report the animal to the customs authority.

4. Special requirements for pets travelling without their owner

The animal travels within five days of the owner’s travel to the same destination

If you and your animal are travelling to the same place but cannot travel together, you should book your animal’s travel within five days before or after your own travel. The animal needs to be accompanied with the following three documents:

1. The veterinary certificate E9.207
2. An authorization from you to your representative or to the transport company/its representative, giving authority to transport your animal (state name and ID-number) without commercial purposes. 
3. Copies of your own ticket or booking, to clarify when and where to you are travelling.

The animal travels more than five days before or after the owner or independent of the owner

If your animal must travel more than five days before or after your travel or without you travelling at all, it must comply with the requirements for trade animals.

5. Special requirements for more than five animals travelling in a group

Travelling for shows, competitions or sports events or training for such events

Are you travelling with more than five animals over six months of age which are going to participate in a show, competition or sports event or train for such an event? You then need to bring:

1. The veterinary certificates showing that the animals are ID-marked and rabies vaccinated.
2. Written evidence that the animals are registered either to participate in the event or that they are registered in an organization which arranges such events.

Valid documents can consist of the catalogue of participants from a show or event or a pedigree issued by a dog or cat organization arranging shows or competitions, provided that the ID-number of the animal is stated.

More than five animals which are not travelling for shows, competitions or sports events or training for such events

If you are travelling with more than five animals which are not going to participate in a show, competition or sports event or to train for such an event, the animals need to comply with the requirements for trade animals. The same requirements apply for those animals in the group which are less than six months old.