Pets: Northern Ireland

(asked on 28th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow pets to be moved from Great Britain to Northern Ireland without restrictions and in the same way that they can be moved from England to Scotland.


This question was answered on 11th February 2021

After the end of the transition period the UK became a third country in relation to the EU Pet Travel Scheme. The rules of this scheme govern non-commercial movements of pets from Great Britain to the EU and from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

In February 2020 we submitted an application to allow the UK to become a Part 1 listed third country under the EU Pet Travel Scheme. This status would mean similar animal health and documentary requirements (compared to before the end of the transition period) for non-commercial pet movements from Great Britain to the EU. On 3 December 2020 the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed of the EU voted in favour of giving the United Kingdom Part 2 listed status under the EU Pet Travel Scheme after the transition period. This listed status has been formally adopted by the EU.

We will continue to press the EU Commission in relation to securing Part 1 listed status, recognising that achieving this would alleviate some of the new requirements for pet owners and assistance dog users travelling to the EU and to Northern Ireland. We are clear that we meet all the animal health requirements for this and we have one of the most rigorous pet checking regimes in Europe to protect our biosecurity.

The Government is also working with the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) on a long-term solution which respects the rights of assistance dog users and pet owners to travel with the minimum of friction. Guidance on pet travel to Northern Ireland is available on the DAERA’s NIDirect website.

Commercial movements of live animals, including dogs, cats and ferrets, which are being moved from Great Britain to Northern Ireland for the transference of ownership or sale, are not subject to the EU Pet Travel Scheme but to the ‘Balai Directive’. This requires that traders or organisations moving pets in this way must pre-notify and use a specific export health certificate. We are listening to the concerns of stakeholders on this issue and welcome any evidence of disruption that might be caused by these new requirements.

There have been no changes to the rules governing non-commercial pet movements, or the commercial movement of dogs, cats or ferrets, from Northern Ireland into Great Britain.

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