After the election last year, it became very clear that the UK was indeed going to leave the EU in the near future. However, there has been a great deal of confusion about how this would impact the pet travel regulations. In this blog, we’ll look at What Happens Next…
The current situation
As things stand, until the end of January, the UK is still part of the EU. As a result, the EU’s Pet Travel Scheme is still in force. This allows you to travel with your cat to and from other EU countries with relatively little paperwork. The key features are that your cat must...
- Be microchipped. This is to ensure that there can’t be any mix up between cats!
- Be vaccinated against rabies. This disease is easily spread through bites (typically from fighting with infected cats), and can be spread by cats to many other species, including humans. Once symptoms appear, there is no treatment and the disease is almost universally fatal. A rabies-infected cat is a danger to every animal and human person around them. As a result, the majority of the following requirements are in place to ensure that it can be proven that your cat is vaccinated.
- Have a Pet Passport. This is an official document that records your cat’s microchip number, description, your details, and crucially, their rabies vaccine record.
This is exactly the same system as has been in place for the last 7 years.
31st January 2020 - 31st December 2020
Assuming that the UK and EU Parliaments pass the Withdrawal Agreement (which seems likely), the UK will enter what is known as the Transition, or Implementation Period. During this time, the UK is not a full member of the EU, but agrees to follow EU regulations as before.
In terms of pet travel, nothing changes. You existing Pet Passport will still be honoured; and the regulations stay the same. However, if you’re applying for a new Passport, consider the next stage of the process…
After 1st January 2021
What happens in this phase is as yet uncertain. The UK government and the EU have both said they want to agree a trade deal to start on 1st January; however, what form this will take, or even if it is possible, is not yet clear. Essentially, there seem to be four options:
- A full trade agreement is signed. This is likely to replicate the existing system, to a great extent if not completely.
- No agreement is reached and the transition period is extended. In this case, the rules under the Transition Agreement (i.e. “business as usual” for Pet Passports) continue for another 1-2 years, until at the latest 31st December 2022.
- A partial trade agreement is signed. What effect this would have on pet travel will depend on whether or not pets are included in the areas where there is agreement. If so, again, it is likely (although not certain) to be very similar to the Pet Passport Scheme. However, if pets are excluded, then it would be more similar to:
- No agreement is reached and the UK leaves the EU without a trade deal. This would not be the dramatic breach that was feared if the UK left without a withdrawal agreement, as a number of sectorial agreements are expected to be in place (e.g. giving the UK Listed Third Country Status in recognition that we are rabies free). However, the status of pet travel is likely to be very low on the priority list of both sides. As a result, we would advise assuming, if this is what happens, that the UK will be an Unlisted country, and proof of rabies status will be needed.
In this, worst case, scenario blood tests to demonstrate that your cat is not just vaccinated, but is actually immune to the rabies virus would be needed. We don’t know how many cats are vaccinated but do not mount a strong enough immune reaction (“Seroconversion”), but it is likely that at least some vaccinated cats are not actually immune to rabies. You can read more about the procedures here, but the bottom line is that you must leave at least 4 months between starting the process and entering the EU.
If you plan to travel with your cat, we’d always advise you to contact us, as our vets can advise you about health while away, but in view of the uncertainty, we’d say do so sooner rather than later!
After the election last year, it became very clear that the UK was indeed going to leave the EU in the near future. However, there has been a great deal of confusion about how this would impact the pet travel regulations. In this blog, we’ll look at What Happens Next…
The current situation
As things stand, until the end of January, the UK is still part of the EU. As a result, the EU’s Pet Travel Scheme is still in force. This allows you to travel with your cat to and from other EU countries with relatively little paperwork. The key features are that your cat must...
- Be microchipped. This is to ensure that there can’t be any mix up between cats!
- Be vaccinated against rabies. This disease is easily spread through bites (typically from fighting with infected cats), and can be spread by cats to many other species, including humans. Once symptoms appear, there is no treatment and the disease is almost universally fatal. A rabies-infected cat is a danger to every animal and human person around them. As a result, the majority of the following requirements are in place to ensure that it can be proven that your cat is vaccinated.
- Have a Pet Passport. This is an official document that records your cat’s microchip number, description, your details, and crucially, their rabies vaccine record.
This is exactly the same system as has been in place for the last 7 years.
31st January 2020 - 31st December 2020
Assuming that the UK and EU Parliaments pass the Withdrawal Agreement (which seems likely), the UK will enter what is known as the Transition, or Implementation Period. During this time, the UK is not a full member of the EU, but agrees to follow EU regulations as before.
In terms of pet travel, nothing changes. You existing Pet Passport will still be honoured; and the regulations stay the same. However, if you’re applying for a new Passport, consider the next stage of the process…
After 1st January 2021
What happens in this phase is as yet uncertain. The UK government and the EU have both said they want to agree a trade deal to start on 1st January; however, what form this will take, or even if it is possible, is not yet clear. Essentially, there seem to be four options:
- A full trade agreement is signed. This is likely to replicate the existing system, to a great extent if not completely.
- No agreement is reached and the transition period is extended. In this case, the rules under the Transition Agreement (i.e. “business as usual” for Pet Passports) continue for another 1-2 years, until at the latest 31st December 2022.
- A partial trade agreement is signed. What effect this would have on pet travel will depend on whether or not pets are included in the areas where there is agreement. If so, again, it is likely (although not certain) to be very similar to the Pet Passport Scheme. However, if pets are excluded, then it would be more similar to:
- No agreement is reached and the UK leaves the EU without a trade deal. This would not be the dramatic breach that was feared if the UK left without a withdrawal agreement, as a number of sectorial agreements are expected to be in place (e.g. giving the UK Listed Third Country Status in recognition that we are rabies free). However, the status of pet travel is likely to be very low on the priority list of both sides. As a result, we would advise assuming, if this is what happens, that the UK will be an Unlisted country, and proof of rabies status will be needed.
In this, worst case, scenario blood tests to demonstrate that your cat is not just vaccinated, but is actually immune to the rabies virus would be needed. We don’t know how many cats are vaccinated but do not mount a strong enough immune reaction (“Seroconversion”), but it is likely that at least some vaccinated cats are not actually immune to rabies. You can read more about the procedures here, but the bottom line is that you must leave at least 4 months between starting the process and entering the EU.
If you plan to travel with your cat, we’d always advise you to contact us, as our vets can advise you about health while away, but in view of the uncertainty, we’d say do so sooner rather than later!