EU pet health certificate: what changes on 1 October 2026

What changes, in one sentence

From 1 October 2026, the health certificate accompanying a dog, cat or ferret entering the European Union from a third country must be drawn up on a new model. The old one can no longer be issued.

That does not mean existing certificates expire that day. It is the likeliest misreading, and it would cost a great many people an unnecessary vet appointment.

Issuing and using are two different things

Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/705 separates the date a document can still be ISSUED from the date until which it can be USED. Its Article 6(3) states that a certificate drawn up on the old model is deemed to comply with the new one where it was issued before 1 October 2026, and this "for a transitional period until 31 March 2027".

Be careful about what this date does not say: it does not extend the certificate's validity. The model itself states that it is valid for 10 days from issue to the checks at the EU point of entry. A certificate signed on 29 September therefore gets you in until around 9 October, not until March. The 31 March 2027 date only sets how long an old-model document stays accepted for the rest of the stay, when moving on to another Member State. If the appointment falls on 2 October, the document must be the new model — that is your vet's and the endorsing authority's business rather than yours, but worth knowing before you turn up.

The five dates

They do not cover the same documents or the same travellers. Mixing them up is the only real difficulty here.

• 30 September 2026 — last day to issue a non-commercial certificate on the old model (Article 6(3) says "issued before 1 October 2026"). This is the date that concerns a traveller with their own pet.
• 31 March 2027 — end of the period during which such a certificate is still deemed to comply with the new model, for the rest of the stay in the Union. To ENTER, the 10-day rule still applies.
• 17 October 2026 — last day to issue an old-model certificate in the COMMERCIAL regime, meaning a consignment rather than an animal accompanying its owner.
• 17 January 2027 — last day to use such a commercial certificate.
• 1 January 2028 — PASSPORTS on the old model remain deemed compliant until then. No action needed if your pet holds a valid one.

Passports are not affected

This is the reassuring half, and it is routinely buried under communications about "new certificates". An EU pet passport issued before 1 January 2028 stays valid, whether you travel inside the Union or return from a third country listed in Annex I to Regulation 2026/636.

If you live in the Union and travel on a valid passport, the October deadline simply does not concern you.

Transit is not an exemption

One idea is circulating, including in official summaries: that an animal merely transiting the Union on its way to a third country would not need the EU certificate. The text says close to the opposite.

Article 5 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/131 provides at paragraph 1 that an animal from a third country bound for a destination outside the Union may only transit if it complies with ALL the requirements for entry into a Member State. The paragraph 2 exemption is narrow: it covers only animals "which do not enter the territory of a Member State and remain within the perimeter of the international zone" of the port or airport.

In practice, a connection at Frankfurt or Amsterdam with a dog in the hold almost always involves handling the animal outside that zone. Assuming transit exempts you from everything is the kind of shortcut that gets paid for at the counter.

What to do, depending on your case

If your certificate is signed before 1 October: it may be on the old model. You still have to arrive in the Union within 10 days of its issue.

If you leave after 1 October and the certificate is not yet issued: simply make sure your vet and the endorsing authority are working from the new model. In the United States, APHIS has published the switch on its country pages.

If you hold a certificate issued in September for a January trip: it will not get you in, its 10 days will have run out. The certificate is done within the 10 days before arrival, on the new model.

Why five texts for one question

The framework changed on 21 April 2026, when Regulation 576/2013 ceased to apply. Since then non-commercial movement falls under Part VI of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, supplemented by Delegated Regulation 2026/131 for the substantive rules, Implementing Regulation 2026/636 for the country lists, 2026/705 for the document models, and 2026/848 for commercial certificates.

Five instruments, then, to answer "which piece of paper do I need". That is precisely why the dates travel badly, and why it is worth checking each one in the text that sets it rather than in a summary.