Export live animals

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There are separate rules for:

• pets
• horses
• fish
• endangered animals

Within the EU: current rules

To move animals within the EU,EU you must:

• apply for a free Intra Trade Animal Health Certificate (ITAHC) for each type of animal
• check if your animal holding needs to be registered or approved
• follow the rules for transporting animals

Apply for an ITAHC

1. Nominate an official vetveterinarian to inspect your animals.goods. To find one, ask at your local vet or email ovteam@apha.gov.ukovteam@apha.gsi.gov.uk.
2. Register with the Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) system if you’ve not used it before.
3. Sign in to TRACES and fill in the details of the live animals you’re exporting.
4. Contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) or Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland. Tell them that the ITAHC has been created and give them details of your official vet.veterinarian.
5. APHAYour certificate will sendbe yoursent EHC to your official vetveterinarian within 7 working days of the date of export, or within one working day of receipt if you plan to export in the next 7 working days. If your official vetveterinarian doesn’t receive the certificate, contact the APHA Centre for International Trade Carlisle.
6. Include the certificate when you export your consignment.

Instead of using TRACES, you can complete Application for Veterinary Health Certification (EXA31) (PDF, 829KB, 7 pages) using the guidance notes (PDF, 104KB, 6 pages) to help you. Send the completed form to the APHA Centre for International Trade Carlisle.

Your ITAHC will be valid for 10 days after the inspection. There’s no fee for the certificate, but your vet will charge you for their time.

If there isn’t an ITAHC for your species of animal, contact APHA (or DAERA in Northern Ireland).

Check if your animal holding needs to be registered or approved

As well as an ITAHC, you must register your holding or get it approved before you can move certain animals in the EU. Your holding is the place you keep your animals in the UK.

You must register your holding to move:

• hoofed animals (ungulates) that aren’t livestock
• birds that aren’t commercial poultry
• rabbits and hares
• dogs, cats and ferrets that do not meet the usual rules for pet travel (for example rescue animals being rehomed abroad)

You must get your holding approved to move:

• any animal to another approved holding
• carnivores or primates, for example monkeys, apes, lemurs
• semen or embryos

You do not need to register or get approval to move other types of animal.

Apply to register your holding

Complete the Application from the Owner or Manager of a Premises for Registration (form EC3163) (PDF, 62KB, 3 pages) . Send it to the APHA Centre for International Trade Carlisle.

You’ll get a registration number to use on your export health certificates.

You must get your holding approved before you can move animals to an approved holding.

Apply to get your holding approved

Complete Application of an Establishment for Approval (form EC3164) (PDF, 66.8KB, 3 pages) .

If and you’re in England, send it to theyour APHAregional Centreveterinary forlead International Trade Carlisle.

If you’re in Scotland or Wales, send it to the Veterinary Lead Scotland or Veterinary Lead Wales at your local APHA(RVL). office. To find these,your RVL, contact APHA.

Form EC3164 is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg) (PDF, 116KB, 3 pages) .

An inspector will arrange a visit to your holding to check that it has:

• walls, fences or other barriers separating it from the surrounding area
• equipment, facilities and staff to catch, confine and isolate animals
• quarantine facilities to isolate and test animals from non-approved holdings
• a surveillance programme for incoming animals agreed with your vet
• a clean and separated facility for carrying out post-mortems
• a system for disposing of carcasses agreed with your vet

You also must make sure you:

• keep records of animals’ age, sex, species, blood tests and diseases
• employ an official vet - you can find one by asking at your local vet, or by emailing ovteam@apha.gov.ukovteam@apha.gsi.gov.uk

Once your holding is approved

Contact APHA to move animals from your holding. You’ll get an approval number to use on your export health certificates.

Your holding must be inspected annually. You’ll normally be contacted by anyour APHARVL, vet, but it’s your responsibility to make sure that the inspection takes place.

Your approval will be suspended if your holding breaks any of the approval conditions or if the APHARVL vet finds:

• any notifiable disease
• viral enteritis or aleutian disease in mink
• tuberculosis in apes and non-domestic cats
• European foulbrood, varroasis or acariasis in bees
• myxomatosis, viral haemorraghic disease, tularaemia in rabbits and hares

You’ll be given time to fix the problem, but the APHARVL vet can withdraw your approval if you do not.

Outside the EU: current rules

You will usually need to complete an export health certificate (EHC) and some supporting documents to export a live animal.

The EHC is an official document that confirms your export meets the health requirements of the destination country.

An official vet or inspector will check that your export meets the health requirements of the destination country. They’ll complete and sign the certificate, and give it to you.

Find out how to apply for an EHC and download the forms.

Use the most up-to-dateup to date EHC

EHCs are sometimes updated when export agreements are changed so make sure you are using the latest version of a certificate. The EHC form finder will always have the latest version.

Out of date forms will be rejected and cause delays to your exports.

You can sign up for alerts by subscribing to the feed on the EHC form finder. You’ll then get an email when a form is updated.

Transporting animals

You must make sure you meet animal welfare standards when transporting animals.

Endangered animals

FindUse outthe howSpecies+ tool to importsearch for your animal. Check which annex (A, B, C or D) it’s classified as under EU wildlife trade regulations.

What you need to do depends on whether you’re exporting within the EU or outside the EU.

If Species+ says the animal is banned, you cannot export endangeredit.

Within the EU

If the animal is classed as Annex B, C or D, you do not need to do anything.

If it’s classed as Annex A, you must apply for an Article 10 certificate unless you’re:

• exporting live animals for non-commercial reasons like scientific research
• exporting certain captive bred birds
• re-exporting live animals that were bred in captivity

In these 3 cases, you do not need to do anything.

Apply for an Article 10 certificate

Complete the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Article 10 application form.

Email the completed form to wildlife.licensing@apha.gsi.gov.uk or post it to the APHA Centre for International Trade Bristol.

Include any supporting documents that show you acquired the product legally, for example:

• a copy of the import permit
• a previous Article 10 certificate (use the yellow copy)

The certificate costs £31.

You should alsoget your certificate within 15 working days.

Outside the EU

If it’s classed as A, B or C, you need a CITES export permit.

If it’s classed as D, check whatthe animal’s CITES listing in the Species+ tool. If it’s in Appendix III, you’ll need a CITES export permit. Otherwise you do not need to whendo tradinganything.

Apply andfor movinga endangeredCITES animalsexport ifpermit

Complete there’sCITES permit application form FED0172.

If you’re re-exporting a no-dealspecies, Brexitinclude its CITES import permit to prove it legally entered the EU.

Email or post the completed form to the APHA Centre for International Trade Bristol.

An exit permit costs £63 or £37 if you’re re-exporting. You should receive it within 15 working days.

If you’re exporting as part of conservation work, you can apply for an exemption from paying CITES application fees.

Circuses

Within the EU, you must register the circus and its animals if you take them outside the UK. The rules also apply to any birds, bees, salmon or trout kept for exhibition or entertainment.

Outside the EU, you do not need to register your circus or its animals. You also do not need to register circuses within the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

You need a licence for wild animals, even if your circus stays within the UK.

Get a licence for a travelling circus with wild animals.

Find out how to register a travelling circus or animal act to travel in the EU.

Regular exports for public exhibition

If you regularly take endangered circus animals abroad, you could complete travelling exhibition certificate (form FED0173) (PDF, 64.4KB, 2 pages) instead of a CITES permit or Article 10 certificate.

You can use the certificate within or outside the EU. It’s valid for 3 years and means you do not need to apply for permission each time.

Email or post the completed form to the APHA Centre for International Trade Bristol.

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