If you walk around a park or square in any Spanish city, you’ll probably notice a curious detail: it’s easier to come across people walking dogs than parents with children. Logical. The number of pets far exceeds to that of babies. It happens in Spain and in many other nations. Against this backdrop, Brussels has decided to reinforce the rules that pet animals that want to cross community borders must comply with.
And that means something new. starting in April.
What has happened? What Brussels has updated the rules that pets (dogs, cats, ferrets and pet birds) must comply with if they want to enter European territory from other countries or cross borders, going from one nation to another in the community club. The goal: harmonize EU rules.
This is not a bureaucratic endeavor, but rather a matter of reinforcing laws that try to prevent the spread of diseases. It’s nothing new either. The latest changes are based on the regulations that Brussels has been approving in the last decade.
Why is it news? If you have a pet, it is likely that in recent days you have come across news that talks about “rule changes” or one disturbance of the standards. The reality is more complex and less radical. To understand it, you have to go back at least to June 2013, when the Regulation (EU) 576/2013 of the European Parliament on the movement of pets. This regulation replaced a previous one from 2003 and is basically the one that has been governing the movements of pet animals in the EU in recent years.
The reality is that the 2013 law was not the last law approved by Brussels on the subject. In fact, years later the regulation was repealed by a later standardmore focused on “animal health” and which (in order to facilitate its application in different countries) included a transition period.
That is the key to making the topic news now. This adaptation period will end in less than a month: April 22, as the European Commission (EC) itself recalled at the beginning of this year, when it published the regulation which will govern from now on the movements of pets made for any reason other than commercial.
And what does the regulation say? The document It covers 35 pages in which the Commission details the regulatory framework and legislative precedents, as well as describing the different scenarios in which a dog, cat, ferret or bird can travel through the EU. For example, the details of the ‘photo’ may vary depending on whether we are talking about pets from “third countries”, outside the Union, animals that are simply passing through the EU (on their way to their final destination) or others that move between nations of the community club. Your age also influences.
From the outset, the regulation makes it clear that it does not represent a full stop, nor does it break with the previous framework. On the contrary. Its guidelines “largely reproduce the rules currently established in the EU.” The objective is not so much to completely change the framework as, the Commission legislators clarify, to “update” the regulation “taking into account the experience acquired” over the years.
One of its greatest novelties in fact focuses on the ‘European pet passport’a document that is not far from new and with which the Spaniards who have dogs and cats they have been around for a while familiar.
What is the most important thing? He new regulationpublished by the EC in January, above all emphasizes three requirements that pets (pet dogs, cats and ferrets) who want to travel between member states must meet. All this, let us remember, as long as the trips are made without commercial purposes. The first obligation of the EC is that the animal must be individually identifiable, something that is basically guaranteed through a chip. The second, that you have to be up to date with your vaccines, specifically with the rabies vaccine.
The regulation is very clear in this regard: the animal must “have received a complete primary vaccination against rabies at least 21 days before the date of movement or have been revaccinated, in accordance with the established validity requirements.” If we also talk about a dog that will move to an EU area free of Echinococcus multilocularis (a species of tapeworm that can infest humans) must first undergo special treatment.
Of course, to guarantee that it is ‘clean’ the animal must have gone through this procedure between 120 and 24 hours before arriving in its destination country.
Are there more requirements? Yes. If the pet is a puppy less than 12 weeks old and does not yet have the rabies vaccine, the photo changes. Its owner will have to present a signed statement ensuring that the pet has not been in contact with other animals suspected of being infested.
However, the main requirement contained in the community regulation has to do with the ‘baggage’ that the animal must carry with it. Just as we always travel with documentation, our furry companion must also go with “an identification document in the form of a passport.”
What is that document like? “Such passport must meet the following conditions: be signed by the owner of the pet and have been duly completed and issued in the Member State in which the owner of the pet usually resides”, clarifies the regulations European. That is, the passport is an obligation.
That is the main requirement included in the standard, along with which it clarifies that the animal must be vaccinated against rabies and have undergone, if necessary, internal deworming in the last five days. All of the above translates into something very simple: when you travel with your pet, it will no longer be enough for you to book tickets and hotels. You will also have to take care of the animal’s management.
Is it that big of a change? Yes. And no. It is important to the extent that it updates community regulations and clarifies certain obligations that must be met by people who want to cross borders with their pets.
The reality, however, is that it does not include any new element that will surprise pet owners. The European passport is not no news. Neither in Spain nor in other neighboring countries. France for example also clarify to anyone who wants to cross its border with animals that the European document is mandatory and that any dog (in addition to pet cats or ferrets) must be registered as established by law.
Images | Eminent Luggage (Unsplash) and European Commission
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