This page will be updated as news comes in/changes. If you'd like to report a change, please e-mail me.

Thank you to Birgit Hartoft, Taina Aura (thanks for the detail!), Heike Poole, Timothy Lamb, Anja Koperberg, and Martina Hodkova, on providing information on their countries.

Compare and contrast import/export and ownership rules in different countries.

Country	Import	Export	Ownership
England	6 month quarantine Althought a ban is in the works: http://www.maff.gov.uk/animalh/quarantine/index.htm
Denmark (and most European Countries)	1. The Importer has to inform the Border control Point (Tel 069-691506) 24 hours in advance about the arrival time of the animals (I would do that). Exceptions can be granted by the Border control Point. 2. You have to present the Border control Point at the time of inspection the following documents: a. an import permit b. For more than three month old animals: An individual pass with the Vaccination dates, which allows for the animals to be clearly identified, and where a Veterinarian certifies, that the animal was vaccinated against rabies when it reached the age of three months. As of the age of 4 months, the vaccination has to be at least 30 days old, and in case of repeated rabies vaccinations not older than 12 months before reaching the border. On the vaccination certificate there has to be the description of the vaccine/serum, and the number of the vaccination certificate/tag. For less than three months animals: A certificate of the responsible State Veterinarian of the place of origin of the animal, which certifies the following: 1. The animal does not show any signs of a contagious disease. 2. In the place of origin no case of rabies has been reported/found. THIS CERTIFICATE IS NOT NECESSARY FOR PUPPIES UP TO 12 WEEKS OF AGE, IF THEY ARE IMPORTED WITH THE MOTHER ANIMAL. The certificate has to be filled out in German, or the English certificate has to be translated and bear the seal of an official translation. IMPORTANT NOTICE: Animals less than 8 weeks of age are not allowed to be imported unless accompanied with the Mother Animal, for Animal Protection reasons. 3. The animals will be checked by entering the country from the border control point. 4. The transport boxes must be made that no residue or food can be spilled. They are to cleaned and recycled right after use. 5. If the animals should get sick or die within three months of arrival, the importer has to inform the authorities immediately. The Countries Veterinarian can order the animals to be treated or an autopsy is performed to find out the causes of the death. 6. The costs of the import is up to the importer.
Norway	4 months quarantine.
Australia and New Zealand	Dogs and cats can only be imported with prior permission and they must be accompanied by a valid Permit to Import. * When the application has been approved by AQIS, you will be sent a Permit to Import. * The Permit to Import is only valid for two months. Health requirements * When you receive the Permit to Import, contact your veterinary practitioner to arrange for vaccinations, testing or treatments (the full details on vaccinations etc can be found in the information sheet relevant to the country of export). 1. Your pet must be eligible for entry 2. It must be rabies vaccinated 3. It must be microchipped 4. It must have rabies protection confirmed by a blood test 5. Your pet must undergo quarantine after arrival in Australia. For dogs/cats blood tested between150 days and 12 months prior to export, the minimum quarantine period (30 days) may apply.
Finland	No quarantine. 1. If they come from Sweden, the UK or Northern Ireland and have no symptoms of diseases on the day of leaving the country, they can arrive free. 2. If they come from the EU (European Union) countries, they must have a certification from a vet that the dog was vaccinated against Rabies if it is over 3 months, and the Rabies shot is made with the accepted shots. 3. If they come from a country that is a Rabies-free country (Norway, Iceland, New-Zealand, Australia or Japan), they must be symptom free when they leave the country and they must have a certification that they come straight from those countries (no stops in other countries during the trip). 4. If the dogs come from the USA, Canada or Switzerland they must have a certification by a vet that they have been vaccinated with an accepted rabies shot at least 30 days before or at the latest 12 months before they leave the country. There is a list provided by Finnish Government which rabies shots are regarded as "Accepted". The dog must be at least 4 weeks when the shot is given. However, if the dog is not over 12 weeks, it can be brought into Finland without rabies vaccination, providing that there is a vet signed certification about: either that the dam was vaccinated with accepted rabies shot OR that the puppy has no symptoms of "catching" diseases at the day of the leaving. The certification is valid for 10 days after it was given. And if something is missing from the paper work, the vet on the border can check the dog and give the conditions under which the dog can be brought anyway. 5. Other countries: the dog can be imported providing it has no symptoms of "catching" diseases on the day of the leaving, and that it has a vaccination certification proving the rabies shot with accepted shot at least 30 days before leaving but vaccination must not be older than 12 months. The dog must be at least four weeks so that the vaccination can be given.		The docking of tails was banned around 1996. If dogs are born NTB they must have a vet's certification about this to enter a conformation show. We still can import dogs with docked tails and show them in conformation, providing that the said dog has no Finnish dogs in his/her pedigree at all. And also a special permit must be applied for from the Finnish Kennel Club and it must be shown for the arrangers of the show every time you enter one. Cropping ears has been banned from the 60's. Training seems to be a lot alike also, just comparing to the posts on the A-L. There is still a lot of "conventional" training around, but also clicker training is gaining ground. There are two kinds of usual scent trials, in the other one dogs follow a trail pre-done in the forrest by a human being and the scent must be taken from the ground. The other is a trial where there are both "lost" objects and "lost" people in the woods and a dog has to go and find them, in this one the scent must be taken from the air. We also do search and rescue work with our dogs, which is a bit similar than the last mentioned trial, and these have trials too. In addition there is a trial called relay race, in which the dog must run a long distance between two people. Also IPO trials are popular and skiing trials during the winter time (dog "pulls" a person on skis). Also there is a multi-talent trial, which consists of scent work and parts of other trials. Obedience rules have some differences. There are four different classes that the dog has to go through with good points in obedience in order to get a title for that. Spaying or neutering however are not considered normal procedures unless a dog has something wrong that would ask for this operation (for example undescended testicles etc.) and there is not very much dividing of puppies into show or pet quality puppies, unless the puppy really has some sort of disqualification such as mismark or wrong bite etc. It is estimated that there are about 1.5 million dogs in Finland and the Finnish human population is 5 million inhabitants. There are about 150-200 Aussies at the moment and the amount is growing fast.
Czech	28 day quarantine (however it is home), dogs is not allowed to meet with other dogs during this period. You need rabies vaccination, in case when the dog will permanently stay you need import permission from state veterinary office and after arrival of the dog you have to let them know that the dog is here and they can come to check the dog during this time. I imported two dogs and they never came.	You need rabies vaccination and health certificate from your veterinary confirmed by state veterinary office not older then 3 days, in case of permanent export you have to ask stud book for export pedigree.	Ear cropping has been banned. In training of hunting dogs is not possible to use live fox for training of dashunds and similar breeds (sorry do not know the right word for work under ground)
Sweden
Holland, Netherlands	The department that lays down the regulations is the RVV (Rijkskeuringsdienst voor Vee en Vlees) in Rijswijk telephone number +31-(0)70-3578811 a health certificate of maximally 10 days old, Rabies shot of minimally 1 month and maximally 1 year old Exception: puppies up to 12 weeks do not need this injection. They can be given their rabies shot on arrival on Schiphol airport. From the time that the rabies injection has been given, the puppy has to be strictly kept indoors and be banished from any contact with other animals for 30 days (house quarantine). For this reason, I advise people to give the injection ASAP (6 weeks old is the soonest), then the quarantine period in Holland will last 30 days minus every day that the puppy spent home with his mother and litter mates in the States. Disadvantage of giving the rabies injection this soon, is that it will not protect the puppy against rabies long enough. But Holland is considered rabies free, so Dutch dogs don't even need this injection. IOW, no harm done. It goes without saying that all the usual preventive injections needs to be given to a puppy or dog (e.g. leptospirosis). However, they are not part of the import regulations. Heartworm does not exist here (yet; we are in danger of contracting it from travellers abroad). The best thing is to keep the dog on Heartworm medication as usual while in the states. As soon as the dog arrives in Holland, it should no longer need this medication. Half a year after his/her arrival, he/she should be tested against heartworm. Should it turn out that the dog is infected, the new owner should have a vet from the States send medication over, because we don't have the proper medication here (I think they use Ivermectin for lack of better medication). Therefore the owner to be should take care that the breeder has made the necessary arrangements with his/her vet to supply the medication if necessary.