The EU animal health certificate for bringing a dog or cat into France

The certificate at a glance

Who needs the certificate, and who does not

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/131, in force since 22 April 2026, reserves the EU pet passport for animals whose owner habitually resides in a Member State. For everyone else, the identification document for entry into the Union is the animal health certificate in Annex III of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/705 (Article 18). In practice the certificate is needed in three situations:

• The owner lives outside the EU, in an Annex II country of Regulation 2026/636 (United States, Canada, United Kingdom excluding Northern Ireland, Japan, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Australia and others) or in an unlisted country (China, South Korea, Thailand, Morocco, Türkiye and others). For the latter, the certificate also records the result of a rabies antibody titre test.
• An EU pet returns after a booster or titre test done in a non-EU country. France's veterinary directorate (DGAL) is blunt: "the passport alone is no longer valid". A certificate is needed, "signed by the official authorities of the third country, which alone are competent to recognise the validity of the signature of a practising veterinarian of that third country".
• A French citizen settled outside the EU comes back on holiday with a pet. The European Commission is explicit: residence is what matters, not nationality. The pet enters on a certificate, even if its passport was issued in France years ago and the owner has since moved abroad for good.

Conversely, no certificate is required for an animal arriving from an Annex I country or territory (Switzerland, Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, Iceland, San Marino, Vatican City, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland): it travels on the passport issued there (Article 20). Nor is one required for a pet that lives in France and returns on its EU passport after a stay outside the EU, provided the passport shows it already met the conditions before leaving: a vaccination valid at departure and still valid on return, and a favourable titre test done before departure if the country visited is unlisted. The passport's limits are set out in our article on the EU pet passport.

Who completes and who signs the certificate

Article 19 of Regulation 2026/131 allows two routes, at the departure country's choice:

1. An official veterinarian of the non-EU country issues the certificate directly, "on the basis of supporting documentation".
2. An authorised veterinarian completes it, and the country's competent authority then endorses it. The endorsement, not the vet visit, is what starts the 10-day clock.

In both cases the issuing vet verifies the animal's identification, completes the required entries (identification, rabies vaccination, titre test where applicable, tapeworm treatment for certain Member States) and attaches certified copies of the supporting documents. The most common example among our clients is the United States: a USDA-accredited veterinarian completes the certificate, submits it through the VEHCS system, and USDA APHIS endorses it with an ink signature and an embossed seal. USDA states that this endorsement must take place within 10 days of the pet's arrival in the EU, and that the non-commercial certificate is valid for 30 days after the accredited vet issues it, which is the time available to get it endorsed. The step-by-step on the American side is in our article bringing a dog or cat from the USA to France.

Who counts as an "official veterinarian" or the "competent authority" depends on each country: the state veterinary service, the ministry of agriculture, a food and animal health agency. Our destination guides spell it out route by route, for instance for the United Kingdom, Japan or the United Arab Emirates.

What the certificate contains

The Annex III model is a bilingual document, in the language of the country of entry and in English: for an arrival in France, French and English. The explanatory notes to the Annex set its form: a single sheet or an indivisible set, numbered pages, attached sheets signed and stamped, a signature in a colour different from the print, entries in block letters. Part I describes the consignment; box I.5 (consignee) names the Member State of first destination, and the owner's boxes carry the owner's name even when an authorised person travels with the animal. Part II is the health certification itself:

• II.1: the number of animals, five at most, except for a competition or show with proof of registration;
• identification by transponder (or a legible tattoo applied before 3 July 2011), implanted before the vaccination;
• a valid rabies vaccination, with the rule recalled in a note: a booster given after the previous one expired counts as a primary vaccination;
• the titre test, for an animal from an unlisted country: blood sample at least 30 days after vaccination, an approved laboratory, a result of at least 0.5 IU/ml, and at least 90 days between the sample and the issue of the certificate; a certified copy of the laboratory report attached (see our article on the rabies vaccine and titre test);
• II.5: the non-commercial nature of the movement, either declared by the owner or authorised by the owner with evidence of their own journey.

Two documents travel with the certificate. The owner's declaration (Annex V, Part 2, of Regulation 2026/705) states that the movement "does not have as its aim either the sale of or another form of transfer of ownership" of the animal. When the pet travels with an authorised person, the written authorisation in Annex V, Part 1 is added, and the owner's boarding pass or ticket must be available on request. These declarations are written in an official language of the Member State of entry and in English.

The deadlines: 10 days to enter, 6 months afterwards

The certificate is valid for only 10 days from its issue by the official veterinarian or, under the second route, from its endorsement by the competent authority, "until the date of the documentary and identity checks at the designated travellers' point of entry". For transport by sea, the length of the voyage is added to those 10 days. A certificate endorsed on the 1st of the month no longer allows entry on the 12th.

Once the entry check is done, the document can no longer be used to enter again, but it remains valid for movements to other Member States for 6 months in total from that check, or until the rabies vaccination expires if that comes first (Article 18 of Regulation 2026/131). DGAL adds that this validity holds "even after a short stay in France": a pet that lands in Paris can carry on to Brussels or Madrid within that period without a new document.

We recommend working backwards: first the arrival date and the booking of the pet's place, then the endorsement date, then the vet visit a few days before it. An appointment taken too early means doing everything again.

At the point of entry: customs checks and stamps the certificate

An animal coming from a country outside Annex I must enter the Union through a travellers' point of entry designated by the Member State (Article 15). For France, the Commission refers to the list of border crossing points: in practice the main international airports (Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Orly, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Nantes, Basel-Mulhouse and others), the Channel and Mediterranean ports and the Eurostar terminals. Our page on French airports for pets describes what happens at each.

On arrival, French customs words the obligation as follows: "you must declare and present your pet animals to customs officers, so that they carry out a documentary and identity check". DGAL adds that no appointment is needed: travellers "go through the filter", that is, past the customs desk, before leaving the international zone, and "the health certificate must systematically be presented to customs officers on arrival in France for endorsement". That customs stamp is what opens the 6-month validity.

If the animal does not comply, the authorities may order its isolation under official supervision, its return outside the Union or, as a last resort, its euthanasia, at the expense of the owner or the authorised person. Non-compliance and France's own rules (category dogs, hybrid cats, I-CAD) are covered on our page bringing a dog or cat into France.

Old and new model: the transition dates

Regulation 2026/705 replaced the certificate model in Annex IV of Regulation 577/2013. Article 6 organises the transition: a certificate on the old model is deemed compliant "for a transitional period until 31 March 2027", provided it was issued before 1 October 2026. Since that date, every new certificate must follow the 2026 model. DGAL and USDA each say so on their side: USDA set 1 October 2026 as the effective date of the new non-commercial certificate for American exports to the EU.

A vet who still filled in an old-model form today would produce an invalid document. Before the appointment, we check with the vet and, where relevant, with the departure country's authority that the version in use is the right one. Passports are not affected: old ones remain valid.

Not to be confused with the export certificate when leaving France

The EU animal health certificate is for entering the Union. There is no EU certificate for leaving it: the 2026 texts govern only entry into and movement within the Union, and each destination country sets its own conditions and its own certificate model. A dog flying from Paris to Tokyo or Sydney travels on the Japanese or Australian certificate, completed in France.

The French process is then a different one: your vet, authorised by the state, performs the procedures and completes the destination's certificate; where that country requires an official veterinarian's signature, the certificate is endorsed by the state veterinary services, the DDPP or DDETSPP of your département. Export certificate models by country can be consulted without an account on the public Information and Communication portal of Expadon 2; online certification there is not yet open for live animals. The departmental services do not publish their lead times, so we check them for each case. All of this is covered on our page leaving France with a dog or cat.

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