With the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement with the EU now in effect, from 1st January 2021, pet passports are no longer valid for dogs, cats, and other animals registered in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This means that UK-issued pet passports are no longer valid for travel.
Pets will still be able to travel to France, as well as to other countries in the European Union and Schengen Area, and they won’t be subject to lengthy quarantines and strict health regulations as they once did before.
However, the process will require a little more paperwork…
New Rules for Bringing Your Dog or Cat to France After Brexit
If you are planning to bring your dog, cat, or other pets on your French holiday:
Your pet must be microchipped.
Your pet must be vaccinated against rabies.
You must obtain an animal health certificate (AHC) for your pet, within 10 days prior to travel.
Other requirements include a tapeworm treatment for dogs travelling to countries including Ireland and Northern Ireland, but this is not currently required for pets travelling to France.
For further information click here
On arrival, the entrance process remains as it was before. You will be asked to present the above documents and scan your pet’s microchip.
Once you have arrived safely, I would strongly advise registering your pet with a local vet as soon as possible. As a slight aside, pet insurance for vets fees doesn’t exist in the same way you may be used to. Premiums are very expensive and often has a very low limit for each intervention. This, combined with the fact that vet fees are generally much lower than you would expect to pay in the UK makes insurance an unpopular and often expensive option. Many people simply set aside an amount each month to cover any potential costs.
What is an Animal Health Certificate?
Animal health certificates (AHC) can be issued by any vet in the country you are travelling from. They must be issued within 10 days of travelling and are valid for four months from the date of issue. In the UK, you should expect to pay around £110 for an AHC – fees may vary, so check with your vet.
Each AHC is valid for one trip to the EU, so if you’re a second-home owner in France, you will need to do this every time you visit if you want to bring your pets along. The good news is that a single AHC is valid for onward travel in the EU and your return travel to the UK (as long as it’s within the stipulated four months).
Bringing Dogs and Cats from France to England
If you’re a Brit living in France after Brexit, you will still be able to bring your pets with you on your UK visits. Pet passports will remain valid for pets registered in the EU for entry into the UK. However, if your pet currently has a pet passport issued in the UK, you will need to change this for a French EU pet passport instead. Your vet should be able to do this for you.
Becoming an pet owner in France
A new law aimed at combating animal abuse and strengthening the bond between animals and humans was enacted on 30 November 2021 and includes the introduction of a compulsory “certificate of commitment and knowledge” certificat d’engagement et de connaissance for owners of domestic animals including cats, dogs, and horses. Two years after this law was introduced, there is still confusion about who and how this is done. If you own a domestic animal, it is worth asking your vet about this certificate and if you need to apply for one. Many rescue societies now require this certificate before you will be able to adopt an animal from them, and often have a dedicated Vet that you can talk to about this.
Poultry and Livestock
Bringing live poultry and Livestock across from the UK is now a whole other ball game. The amount of testing and paperwork required to very often prohibiting and even once this has ball been done, trying to find a way to bring them across the channel is virtually impossible. Here is the government link for more information
In recent years, France has been plagued by bouts of bird flu that have hit the poultry breeders very hard. Especially in the south of France, which is renowned for its Duck production and specialty foie gras. Breeders and producers have been forced to keep birds indoors, and in many cases, this is not a viable option, and has lead to many poultry farmers going out of business or shutting down this part of their operation.
Horses and other equines
Moving horses, ponies and donkeys from the UK to Europe, or vise versa, is now a job really only possible for a professional transporter. Of course, some people still do transport their equines themselves, but the amount of hoops that need jumping through are immense! If you are thinking of doing it yourself, please take time to carefully study the requirements and paperwork necessary before making a final decision. Due to the increased complexity of transporting equines since Brexit, not surprisingly the cost of professional transport has skyrocketed. To check out all the requirements listed on the government website please click here . You must also investigate the possibility of paying import duty on your horses. The British Equestrian website gives more details on temporary and permanent export and import.
What next?
Once here, depending on the type of equine and its passport, depends on how it should be registered. You will need to register the horse with the IFCE. This involves a vet to check the horse against his passport for marking and microchip, filling in the necessary forms and sending of the original paperwork and the corresponding check to the IFCE for registration either with the appropriate breed society or as an ‘unknown’ breed. The passport will come back, over stamped with the French paperwork, a SIRE number, which is the official registration number of the horse in France, and a certificat d’immatriculation – Ownership document. The way your horse is registered and declared in France will affect they level of competition you can participate in.
To compete in France, it is not only the way the horse is registered, but also the level of ‘registration’ of the rider. For ‘club’ level competition, you will need to pass your ‘Galop’ exams to the appropriate level at which you would like to compete. If you are competing at amateur or professional level, the process is slightly different.
Get in touch
I would love to hear your experience of importing or exporting pets, and im sure that your experience will help others, so please leave a comment below. If you have any questions regarding the subjects discussed in this post, ask away and i will do my best to give you a more complete answer!
