Buenos Aires or Bogotá: the same dog, the same Madrid, months apart

The list, and where it now lives

To enter the European Union from a third country, a dog, cat or ferret must have passed a rabies antibody titration test — unless it comes from a country or territory on one of two official lists.

Those lists moved in 2026. They are Annexes I and II of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636, giving effect to Article 17 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/131. Annex I covers territories applying rules equivalent to the Union's — Andorra, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, the Faroes, Gibraltar and Greenland. Annex II covers third countries with rabies surveillance judged robust.

Where Latin America falls

The split follows no logic you could guess from outside, and that's exactly where the trap is.

• In Annex II, so NO titration: Argentina, Chile, Mexico — alongside the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
• ABSENT from both annexes, so titration REQUIRED: Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil.
• Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire and Sint Maarten are listed; Venezuela is not.

What it actually changes

It isn't the blood draw that costs, it's the calendar around it. Point 1 of Annex XXI to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/692 sets it precisely: the sample is taken by an authorised vet no earlier than 30 days after the primary vaccination, and no later than 3 months BEFORE THE DATE THE CERTIFICATE IS ISSUED. The anchor is the certificate, not entry — a nuance almost nobody writes correctly. The titre must be at or above 0.5 IU/ml, and the laboratory's official report is attached to the certificate.

There is an exemption almost nobody mentions, and it saves months: the titration does NOT have to be repeated if the animal is revaccinated within the validity of the primary vaccination (Annex XXI, point 1(d)). A dog that has already passed and keeps its boosters current does not start over.

In practice, Pawmit allows 120 days of minimum preparation on routes requiring a titration test, against 25 on those that don't. That's the order of magnitude: not a few extra weeks, but a decision to take a quarter before booking.

The mistake made by people leaving an unlisted country

A second problem compounds it, and it hits hardest leaving Colombia, Peru or Ecuador: the order of the steps.

The EU requires the microchip to be implanted BEFORE the vaccination that will count. A vaccine given before the chip doesn't count, even if the record's date looks right — it has to be redone and the clock restarts. And those same countries don't require a microchip for their own entry, so the owner had no reason to do it first. The error surfaces while preparing to leave, when the lost time is exactly the time that's short.

The regulatory framework behind these lists changed in April 2026.

The Colombia guide covers entry into the country — the opposite direction to this one.

If you're leaving Argentina, Chile or Mexico

The article reads in reverse too, and that reading is rarely published: your country is listed, so you don't need a titration test. Nobody can require one of you on that basis to enter the Union.

That doesn't remove the rest — microchip, valid rabies vaccination given after the chip, health certificate issued in time, and entry through a designated travellers' point of entry. But it removes the long delay, and with it the part of a move that can't be accelerated.

How to check it yourself

Both lists are public and take five minutes to read on EUR-Lex. Look up your country's ISO code in Annexes I and II of Regulation 2026/636, linked below.

Be wary of any guide that gives a list without citing the regulation that sets it: these lists are revised, and a list with no source and no date gives you no way of knowing when it stopped being true.