Brussels, 14/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - For those who love to travel but who would never leave their pets: as of 1 January 2012, any pet dogs travelling with its master/mistress who is an EU national, on a journey to another EU member state claiming echinococcus-free status, will have to undergo veterinary treatment before it can travel legally. Details of the said treatment will be recorded in the pet's passport, and the dog owner will have to carry out the planned journey with his/her pet within a period from 24 hours to five days (120 hours) after treatment.
That is what is proposed in a regulation adopted by the European Commission on Thursday 14 July harmonising veterinary treatment requirements and the length of time after the treatment during which the animal can travel to Finland, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta.
The move is based on advice from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that the risk of the introduction of Echinococcus multilocularis into parasite-free areas through the movement of infected dogs is greater than negligible. That risk, EFSA concluded, could be mitigated if dogs from endemic areas (the northern hemisphere, including Central and Northern Europe) were to be treated prior to entry into echinococcus-free areas. A dog infected with echinococcus multilocularis (which is a tapeworm) may serve as a source of infection for humans (alveolar echinococcosis, the human infection is a rare zoonotic disease) and a source of contamination of the environment.
For the moment, Finland, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta are the only EU member states on the list of echinococcus-free countries. To make the list, member states have to bring in surveillance programmes and report the results to the Commission once a year.
According to the rules laid down in Regulation (EC) No 998/2003 (known as “the Pet Regulation”), pet dogs, cats and ferrets travelling with their owners for non-commercial movements to another member state must have a passport, or, when imported from a third country, a certificate, providing proof of valid anti-rabies vaccination. The regulation also provides for a transitional period (due to expire on 31 December 2011) to Finland, Ireland, Malta, Sweden and the United Kingdom making the entry of pet animals into their territory subject to health policy requirements that are more strict than for the movement of pets in the EU. They may legally insist that entry to their country be conditional on compliance with certain additional requirements in relation to rabies, echinococcosis or ticks. Sweden is no longer on the list of member states claiming echinococcus-free status after it reported its first echinococcus cases in wild carnivores in January 2011. (A.N./transl.rt)