A new trade agreement has been reached between the UK and the EU, five years after Brexit took effect, including a major change to pet passports.
Cats and dogs travelling from the UK will no longer require costly animal health certificates for each journey thanks to the return of pet passports. Following Brexit, pet owners needed to obtain a certificate from a UK veterinarian and then an EU veterinarian before they could travel back.
What is a pet passport?
The EU pet passport is a single document that is valid for life as long as rabies vaccinations are completed.
But according to current regulations, a veterinarian must give pet owners a health certificate no more than ten days before to their departure from the UK each time they wish to enter the EU.
Before travelling overseas, dogs, cats, and ferrets must receive a rabies vaccination and wait at least three weeks following the initial dose.
Additionally, dogs must have tapeworm treatment one to five days prior to their trip to Finland, Malta, Norway, or Ireland.
Owners are not permitted to bring more than five pets into the EU unless they are exporting for business, attending an event, or training for one.
Due to Northern Ireland's Brexit agreement, which sees the region continue to abide by EU regulations in order to avoid a hard Irish border, the same limitations apply to British dogs, cats, and ferrets travelling there.
As part of the Windsor Framework agreement, those rules will be replaced on June 4 by more relaxed laws; however, UK membership in the EU pet passport program, which permits entry into the Republic of Ireland, may now take precedence over those regulations.
Why and when will I need a pet passport?
Pet passports, as they were referred as before to Brexit, are currently not issued in the UK.
An Export Health Certificate (EHC) is required for travel to non-EU countries, and an Animal Health Certificate (AHC) is required for travel to the EU or Northern Ireland.
These documents are necessary to demonstrate that your pet satisfies the health and immunisation criteria for travel abroad.
Pet passports are due to come back but it is currently not known when they will return.
How to get a pet passport and how much will they cost?
When the new regulations pass, you should be able to get a pet passport at a qualified veterinarian in the UK.
Under current rules, you can only get a EU pet passport from a veterinarian in a European country.
Depending on the veterinarian and the particular treatments needed, a pet passport for the EU might cost anywhere from £100 to £300. This covers the price of the passport itself, the rabies vaccination, and microchipping.
