To move an animal from Russia and Belarus to an EU country for permanent residence, you must go through several registration procedures:
- Veterinary control for export
- Customs control for export
- Veterinary control for import to the EU
- Customs control (or customs clearance) for imports into the EU
Each of these procedures is accompanied by the execution of one or more documents.
- Dogs and cats must be microchip-tagged;
- Dogs and cats must be vaccinated against rabies and the vaccine must be valid for the duration of the journey. Pets must be at least 12 weeks old at the time of vaccination. Rabies vaccination must be administered after the microchip/tattoo has been inserted or the date of reading has been obtained, and begins with the acquisition of protective immunity at least 21 days after the primary vaccination and before the date indicated by the veterinarian in the pet's passport.
For some countries, it is necessary to additionally carry out treatment for Echinococcosis, treatment for fleas and even obtaining a certificate for the presence of antibodies to the rabies virus.
Customs clearance entails a whole sequential cascade of activities:
Registration of declarations for export and import
control over the purity of the declaration (one of these controls is the confirmation of the customs value. Read more about it.
Confirmation of the customs value of the animal (the value indicated in the customs documents, declarations)
Pets declared at a customs value for which the customs officer suspects that this value is not correct and plausible must remain under customs supervision.
Customs supervision ends:
- if a customs declaration with correct details is provided, or
- if sufficient evidence is provided that the declared customs value is indeed the correct and plausible value of the pet.
What does customs value control for pets mean?
During the customs check, the pet must remain in the vehicle, which can only be parked in the vicinity of the customs.
Since we are talking about live pets, and the customs check can take more than one day, pets can be sent under the transit procedure to a place suitable for them (animal shelter, etc.). By this time, the animal shelter must obtain permission from the consignee authorized for the transit procedure from the NTD, as well as permission to use the approved location of the animals. Legal entities can apply for permits.
This is a one-time application, the application process may take up to three calendar months, and includes the provision of a guarantee for the use of an approved pet location. See more here.
Please take into account the above conditions, and we also recommend that you apply in advance for both permits for an authorized consignee and for obtaining an approved location of animals; especially if you are aware that customs may suspect the authenticity or correctness of the customs value of pets declared by you.
Pledge
In addition to the above: after the customs declaration submitted by you is sent to customs control, then a bond can be provided to customs. The calculation of the amount of the deposit is regulated accordingly, Part 4 of Art. 120 Of the Law on Taxation, which is established by the Decree of the Minister of Finance «Basics for the appointment and calculation of the amount of the deposit necessary to ensure the payment of taxes other than those payable in connection with the occurrence of a customs debt.».
The deposit will be refunded if, during a subsequent check, it is determined that the originally declared customs value is correct. If a subsequent audit establishes otherwise, the deposit will be taxable.
When can a pet be moved on?
A pet from a customs office can be moved further after the completed customs declaration for its release for free circulation in respect of a pet is in the "Exempt" status and taxes have been paid or a deposit has been provided.
A pet from an approved location may only be moved after the pet has been cleared by customs (import for release for free circulation) and released by customs, i.e. all checks have been completed or a deposit has been provided.
After passing this control procedure, the next stage is the payment of taxes.
Confirmation of import authorization from the central customs office
All this is the official import procedure.
