European pet passport: how to get one and how long it takes

The European pet passport is the document that accompanies dogs, cats and ferrets moving from one member state to another with their owner or an authorised person. This is non commercial movement: no sale, no transfer of ownership, and the animal travels with the person or joins them within five days of their own journey. Outside those conditions you are in commercial movement, which requires a different health certificate and registration of the operator.

• It applies to dogs, cats and ferrets: other species follow different rules, which also depend on the convention on trade in protected species.
• The maximum number of animals one person can accompany is five.
• The limit of five can be exceeded only for competitions, shows or sporting events, with written proof of entry and animals older than six months.
• The passport belongs to the animal and carries the owner's details: if the animal changes hands, those details must be updated.
• A passport issued in another member state is valid in Italy and the other way round: there is no need to reissue it after moving.

1. 1

   Check identification and registration

   The passport rests on the microchip: if the animal is not identified, identification comes before everything else. Also check that the registry entry carries your current details, because the passport copies them across.

2. 2

   Have the chip read in front of you

   A microchip that does not answer the scanner is the same as no identification at all. Reading it takes seconds and should be repeated at the practice before any paperwork starts, because chips can migrate or fail.

3. 3

   Ask the health authority who is authorised to issue it

   Phone the veterinary service and ask for the list of authorised vets in your area, the opening hours, the fee and the documents required. Booking arrangements vary from one district to another, and a phone call saves a wasted trip.

4. 4

   Turn up with the right documents

   You need a valid identity document, your tax code, the health booklet with the vaccination history and the registry details. The owner named on the passport must be the same person recorded as the owner of the animal.

5. 5

   Have the rabies vaccination done if missing or expired

   The vaccination is recorded with date, product, batch number, validity date and the vet's signature. If the booster is given after the previous one expired, the twenty one day count starts again from zero.

6. 6

   Check every line before leaving the practice

   Verify the microchip code digit by digit, the date of birth, sex, breed and your own name. One wrong digit in the chip code makes the document unusable at a border check, and correcting it means starting the paperwork again.

7. 7

   Count twenty one days on the calendar

   The first day you can travel is the twenty second after the primary vaccination. Mark the date and treat it as a hard deadline: no border officer has the power to shorten it.

8. 8

   Check the destination's extra requirements

   Some member states require the tapeworm treatment, others have their own rules on breeds and transport. The official page of the destination's veterinary authority is the only source that counts, together with the conditions of the airline or ferry operator.

9. 9

   Record the deadlines and photograph the passport

   Note the expiry date of the rabies vaccination and set a reminder at least a month earlier. Keep a photographic copy of the completed pages: it does not replace the original, but it saves the day when you have to prove something remotely.

The twenty four to one hundred and twenty hour window for the antiparasitic treatment is the trickiest of all, because it depends on arrival rather than departure. If the journey includes a long stopover or a change of transport, calculate the time you enter the destination country and not the time of the outbound flight, otherwise the treatment counts as given too early.

• Puppies and kittens under twelve weeks: some member states allow their movement under very strict conditions, others forbid it entirely. The current list is published by the European Union and must be checked before planning anything.
• Return to the Union from an unlisted third country: you need a rabies antibody titration on a sample taken at least thirty days after vaccination, with a result of 0.5 international units per millilitre or higher, followed by a three month wait from the sampling date.
• If the sample for the titration is taken before leaving the European Union, the three month wait does not apply on return: that is why it is worth doing before departure.
• Great Britain: since 2021 it is no longer part of the Union. Dogs entering must receive tapeworm treatment between 24 and 120 hours before arrival, and the return journey follows the documents required by the British regime.
• Norway and Switzerland are not member states but apply regimes aligned on many points: conditions still need checking on their own official sites.
• Airlines and ferry operators add their own requirements on carriers, maximum weight in the cabin, excluded breeds and advance booking of animal places.

1. Rabies vaccination given before the microchip was implanted: the vaccine does not count and must be repeated.
2. Vaccination given before twelve weeks of age: it does not count and must be done again.
3. Booster given after the previous one expired: it counts as a primary vaccination and restarts the twenty one day wait.
4. Passport still in the name of a previous owner and never updated after the animal changed hands.
5. Microchip code transcribed with one digit different from the one the scanner reads.
6. Antiparasitic treatment given outside the window of 24 to 120 hours before arrival.
7. Animal travelling with someone other than the owner beyond the five day gap allowed.