This guidance applies to businesses in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) importing or moving the following germinal products and live animals from the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland:

• germinal products (semen, ova and embryos)
• reptiles
• amphibians (except salamanders)
• invertebrates (except bees, molluscs and crustaceans)
• livestock – such as cows, sheep, goats and pigs
• equines (including equines from Norway)
• poultry (including day old chicks and hatching eggs)
• captive-bred birds that are not pets, poultry or for research, display or conservation (for example, captive-bred birds imported commercially for sale in pet shops)
• non-domestic ungulates – these are hooved animals that are not farm animals, such as llamas, alpacas, antelopes, camels, wild pigs, tapirs, rhinos, giraffes, elephants, hippos

You’ll need to follow additional rules if your live animal or germinal product is:

• a non-native species
• endangered

You need to follow different guidance if you’re importing:

• live fish or shellfish
• pet cats, dogs or ferrets or other pet animals
• salamanders
• animal by-products
• animals covered by Balai rules
• live animals, equines and germinal products from non-EU countries

You should check if current issues, such as disease outbreaks may affect your import.

This guidance also applies to goods imported for commercial purposes by post or courier. Contact your post or courier service to find out if they offer an import service for commercial imports and for more information about the process.

Imports of live animals and germinal products from the EU to Great Britain are categorised as high risk under the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM).    

Read more about importing live animals and germinal products under the Border Target Operating Model.

How imports of live animals must enter Great Britain 

Live animals from the EU can enter Great Britain through any point of entry.  

How imports of germinal products must enter Great Britain 

Unless they are from Ireland, all germinal products from the EU must enter through a point of entry with the relevant border control post (BCP).

Goods moving directly from the Republic of Ireland must enter England or Scotland through a point of entry with a relevant BCP, or through Heysham. Goods from Ireland can enter Wales through any named point of entry. 

There are separate rules for qualifying Northern Ireland goods.

Check what documents you need

Most imports of live animals and germinal products from the EU must come with a health certificate.

If there’s no health certificate for your product, you may need an import licence or commercial document.

Equines imported to Great Britain from the EU, Norway and Northern Ireland must have an up-to-date horse passport.

Health certificates

The EU exporter must apply for the GB health certificate in their own country – competent authorities should use model health certificates and any supplementary health certificates and declarations to create versions that exporters can apply for.

If the exporter creates a GB health certificate using a system approved to produce verifiable PDF certificates, they do not need to send the original health certificate with the consignment. They must send you the official, verifiable PDF certificate once it has been signed by the competent authority. Use this for your import notification in the import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS).

If the exporter does not use a system approved to produce verifiable PDF certificates, the competent authority must send the original paper GB health certificate with the consignment and send you an electronic copy to attach to your import notification in IPAFFS.

Import licences

If a GB health certificate does not exist for the animal or germinal product you want to import, you may need an import licence or authorisation to import from the EU.

In some cases, you may need an import licence as well as a GB health certificate.

Check the list of general licences and authorisations to see if the licence you need already exists.

Contact the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) Animal Imports team if:

• there’s no licence for your animal or germinal product
• you’re not sure if you need a licence

Commercial documents

The exporter must send a commercial document, invoice and packing list with consignments of the following live animals and their germinal products:

• reptiles
• amphibians (except salamanders)
• invertebrates (except bees, molluscs and crustaceans)

The commercial document must include:

• details of what’s in the consignment, including species and number of animals, if this applies 
• any specific requirements of your licence or authorisation
• the name of the person who sent it 
• the name of the person it’s being sent to 
• address of the premises of origin 
• address of the destination premises

It must also state that:

• none of the material to which this authorisation relates is intended to be used for human or animal consumption in any circumstances
• the animals are not intended to be released into the wild

The commercial document must travel with the consignment.

The exporter must also send a declaration that confirms the animals are fit to travel for commercial trade.

Notify APHA about imports of live animals  

You must submit an import notification on IPAFFS to tell APHA about imports of live animals from EU countries. This is also known as a common health entry document (CHED). For live animals, the notification is a CHEDA.

You must do this at least one working day before the animals are expected to arrive at the point of entry. 

If the health certificate for your import was generated in the EU’s digital certification and management platform (TRACES), you can use the ‘clone a certificate’ function in IPAFFS. Use this to:

• create and populate your CHEDA notification with data from a health certificate
• automatically attach a health certificate to your notification

If the health certificate was not generated in TRACES or the ‘clone a certificate’ function is not successful, you must create the CHEDA notification using the ‘create a new notification’ function or the ‘copy as new’ function.

You’ll get a notification reference number, sometimes called a unique notification number (UNN), when you submit your import notification. The format of this number will be CHEDA.GB.YYYY.XXXXXXX.

The notification reference number does not need to be added to the health certificate if it was created in TRACES, unless the import is part of the Approved Importer Scheme.

If you need help with import notifications 

If you need technical help with IPAFFS, call the APHA helpline on 03300 416 999 or email APHAServiceDesk@apha.gov.uk. 

If you need help completing import notifications for live animals, email importsriskmanagement@apha.gov.uk.

Notify APHA about imports of germinal products

You must submit an import notification on IPAFFS to tell APHA about imports of germinal products from EU countries. This is also known as a common health entry document (CHED). For germinal products, the notification is a CHEDP.

You must do this at least one working day before the germinal products are expected to arrive at the point of entry.

You’ll get a notification reference number (sometimes called a unique notification number or UNN) when you submit your import notification. The format of this number will be CHEDP.GB.YYYY.XXXXXXX. 

The reference number does not need to be added to the health certificate.

If you need help with import notifications 

If you need technical help with IPAFFS, call the APHA helpline on 03300 416 999 or email APHAServiceDesk@apha.gov.uk.

If you need help completing import notifications, contact the port health authority at the relevant BCP.

Importing hatching eggs from the EU to Great Britain

Hatching eggs are a germinal product and must be imported through a BCP that looks after live animals or animal products.

You must submit an import notification to your selected BCP on IPAFFS one working day in advance of arrival in Great Britain, using a common health entry document (CHED).

For hatching eggs, you should use:

• a CHED-P if entering through a BCP designated for animal products
• a CHED-A if entering through a BCP designated for live animals

Testing and keeping horses and other equines before you import them to Great Britain

The health certificate will tell you about any conditions for testing and keeping equines before they are imported to Great Britain.

Moving live animals and germinal products from Northern Ireland to Great Britain

You can move live animals and germinal products from Northern Ireland to Great Britain if they’re qualifying Northern Ireland goods.

Shows and sales

You can move livestock from Northern Ireland to Great Britain for events such as shows and sales. You must:

• return livestock to Northern Ireland after no more than 15 days from the date it left Northern Ireland
• only bring livestock to events at APHA approved assembly centres

If you sell Northern Ireland livestock at an approved event to a buyer based in Great Britain, it can stay in Great Britain.

After 15 days you must keep the livestock in Great Britain for at least 6 months before you can move it back to Northern Ireland or export to the EU.

Contact APHA for information about getting an event approved as an assembly centre: livestockexports@apha.gov.ukexports@apha.gov.uk.

Checks on imports of live animals from the EU 

Your live animal may have document, identity and physical checks, including tests, at the place of destination. They must stay there for either:  

• 48 hours  
• the time indicated on the health certificate  

Checks will depend on public and animal health risks. 

Checks on imports of germinal products from the EU 

Unless they are from Ireland, there are checks at the border on germinal products from the EU. All checks will be carried out at the BCP.

Find out if your consignment needs sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks 

If you’re importing germinal products from the EU to Great Britain, you must present the consignment at the relevant BCP if it is called for SPS checks.  

If you’re importing the goods through an airport, the authorities will carry out any necessary checks before they release the consignment for collection by your transporter.  

If you’re importing the goods through a port, the way to find out if your consignment needs SPS checks will depend on whether your transporter is using the Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) to clear customs.  

If your transporter is using GVMS, they should use the check if you need to report for an inspection service to find out what they need to do.  

If your transporter is not using GVMS, IPAFFS will provide an initial risk assessment telling you if your consignment needs SPS checks when you submit your import notification. If your consignment does need checks, you’ll also receive a text and email message 2 hours before your transporter’s estimated time of arrival in Great Britain. The message will confirm what you need to do.  

If IPAFFS tells you your consignment has not been selected for SPS checks, you should still check for messages until your consignment has cleared the port, because the authorities may still call you for checks based on their final risk assessment. 

Read separate guidance if you’re transiting animal products through Great Britain.   

Find out what happens at BCPs.

If you need help

Contact the APHA Animal Imports team if you’re not sure about anything in this guide.