The Animal Health Certificate, explained without the jargon

Since 2021 a pet leaving Great Britain for the European Union travels on an Animal Health Certificate rather than the old blue passport. It is a paper document, it is filled in by a vet, and it has a shelf life measured in days. Almost everything that goes wrong with pet travel paperwork goes wrong here.

Who can sign it

Not every vet. The certificate has to be signed by an Official Veterinarian, a vet who holds that specific authorisation. Most practices have one; some do not, and some have one who works two days a week. This is the first question to ask, and it is worth asking two months before you travel rather than two weeks.

The ten-day window

The certificate has to be issued within ten days of the date you enter the EU. Not ten days before you set off from your house, ten days before the border. It then covers onward travel within the EU for four months and the return to Great Britain for four months.

That window is why the appointment cannot be booked casually. If your crossing moves by a week, the certificate may need re-issuing, and re-issuing means another appointment and another fee.

What the vet needs to see

• The microchip number, and proof it was fitted before the rabies vaccination
• The rabies vaccination record, with the date and the product used
• Your name and address as they will appear on the certificate
• The details of the person travelling with the animal, if that is not you

The one that catches people

If the microchip was fitted after the rabies vaccination, the vaccination does not count. The animal has to be vaccinated again and wait twenty-one days. We have seen this discovered at the appointment, four days before a move, and there is no way round it.

It is worth checking the dates on the two records against each other now, while there is time to do something about it.