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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to bring forward proposals to reintroduce a requirement for a rabies blood test and wait period in order to regulate pet travel and commercial pet movements after the UK leaves the EU.

Defra takes the threat to public and animal health posed by animals entering the United Kingdom (UK) very seriously and requires rabies vaccination for pet animals (cats, dogs and ferrets) entering the country, as well as other high risk species entering zoos or pets destined for the pet trade.

Pet travel between EU member states and from some other lower risk third countries requires a rabies vaccination followed by a 21 day waiting period. A quantitative risk assessment was carried out in 2011, which assessed the risk of a pet animal with rabies entering the UK under the EU Pet Travel Scheme (PTS) as very low. Defra continues to monitor the disease situation but has no plans to introduce a requirement for a rabies antibody titration test.

For third countries with higher rabies risk, stricter rules do apply involving a rabies antibody titration test and waiting period. When the UK leaves the EU it will be a third country for the purposes of the EU Pet Travel Scheme (PTS). On 24 September 2018 a Technical Notice ‘Taking your pet abroad if there’s no Brexit deal’ was published. For pet animals entering the UK from the EU we propose that we maintain the current pet travel entry health requirements after exit though additional controls could be considered at a later date. This would mean that the UK government is not introducing any new requirement immediately following EU exit. The notice advised that should the UK become an unlisted third country under PTS pet owners intending to travel with their pet from the UK to EU countries would need to prove animals are effectively vaccinated against rabies before they could travel with their pet to EU countries. This would require a blood titre test to demonstrate sufficient levels of rabies antibody. Once a blood titre test shows sufficient levels of antibody, there would need to be a three-month waiting period between the date the blood sample is taken and the date of travel.

Defra is working with a range of stakeholders to review the risks to animal health and welfare that illegal imports of dogs pose, and are considering a range of possible long-term measures to tackle these risks.