Pets get their passports to travel in the EU

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 1st Oct 2004

As of Friday 1 October new rules to allow pets to travel freely with their owners came into force throughout the EU.

The so-called "pet passport" scheme means that pet owners can take their cats, dogs and ferrets with them when they travel to another country in the EU. The passport will be accepted as proof that a pet has received the anti-rabies vaccination.

The EU has set a period of eight years for Member States to introduce pet identification by a microchip that will link the pet to its individual passport. Britain, which already requires travelling pets to carry the microchip, has lead the way in developing the alternative to the long and troublesome six-month quarantine control.

London's Liberal Democrat MEP, Baroness Sarah Ludford, has long championed the scheme. She said,

"This is good news for British pets and their owners. It's a great leap forward for freedom of movement in Europe. Now the bond between pet and owner need not hold back Britons who want to live and work in another EU country."

The new rules have been enabled partly by the dramatic decline in the number of cases of rabies amongst cats and dogs recorded annually in the EU. In the last decade, cases fell from 500 to just five.

"Now that the threat of rabies has almost entirely been eliminated I am glad that the European Commission has followed the British example in making it easier for people to travel with their pets. The misery days of having to put a much loved pet in quarantine for 6 months are now over."

"It is ironic that while Europe now feels able to make it easier for pets to travel, the US is erecting barriers to make it more complicated for people to travel."

The free movement of pet insects, birds and fish, as well as hamsters, rabbits and guinea pigs, will also be permitted by the new law.

Note to editors:

More information and questions and answers on the pet passport can be found at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/animal/liveanimals/pets/index_en.htm