Ein-, Durch-, Ausfuhren und innergemeinschaftliche Verbringungen nach tierseuchen- und lebensmittelrechtlichen Vorschriften beantragen

You must apply for a permit if you are moving animals, breeding material, animal products or foodstuffs of certain categories abroad or from abroad to Germany.

For the import, transit, export and intra-Community movement of animals, breeding material, animal products, foodstuffs of certain categories and goods that may be carriers of infectious agents, you require a permit, which can be issued to you upon application. Depending on the category of goods or animal species, a veterinary certificate or a health certificate may be sufficient instead of a permit.

A permit or a veterinary certificate may not be granted/issued if there is a risk of spreading animal diseases.

Products and products that can be confused with foodstuffs that do not comply with the laws applicable in Germany, with the exception of

• Foodstuffs intended exclusively for scientific purposes, for trade fairs, exhibitions or similar events,
• food samples and specimens in small quantities

may not be brought into Germany. Their transit requires customs supervision.

You require a permit or certificate regardless of whether you receive money for the goods or the animal or not. This also applies if the goods or animal remain in your possession and you are traveling temporarily or permanently across a national border.

All applications can be made informally in writing, by fax or email. The official veterinarian can provide information if certificates must be enclosed in accordance with specified models.

• You must be at least of legal age.
• Your application must be submitted before the intended trade.
• Your application for permission for the intended trade or for the issue of a veterinary certificate must be submitted to the competent authority.
• You must already be registered or approved as a business with the competent authority.
• You must already be registered as a business in Traces NT. This can be done by the competent authority in individual cases.
• The competent authority may require further conditions/documents from you.

The procedure for issuing a permit is subject to a fee. This also applies to the issuing of a veterinary certificate or health certificate.

The fees are determined by the respective cost or fee schedule. The fees in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are EUR 10.00 to EUR 1,500.00 in accordance with the Veterinary Administration Costs Ordinance.

Please contact the competent authority for further information before applying for a permit.

Please note that almost all imports from third countries must pass through a veterinary border inspection post on first contact with an EU member state.

There are no deadlines to be observed for the application itself, it is only important that this is done before the intended trade.

When handling the trade, e.g. an animal transport with livestock, official notification obligations of the partner veterinary authorities in other EU Member States and/or other requirements may arise, about which the official veterinarian will provide information.

When importing animals or goods, prior notification of the veterinary border inspection post is mandatory, in some cases this is done automatically via the Traces NT database.

Please contact the competent authority for further information.

Many trade and travel issues concerning animals or goods are subject to constant changes due to changing animal disease situations worldwide, so it is recommended to obtain detailed information from the local official veterinarian in advance.

Further information is available from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL).

• Depending on the animal species or category of goods, movement/entry/export/transit is subject to authorization or only requires the issue of a veterinary certificate or a health certificate
• Authorization and/or veterinary certificate is required regardless of whether a change of ownership takes place or not
• Exceptions to the permit or veterinary certificates possible - for example, moving own dogs to another member state (maximum 5 animals, no change of ownership)
• Person must be of legal age
• The business must be registered/licensed with the competent authority
• Business must be registered in Traces NT
• Application must be submitted prior to the intended trade/transport
• Application for permission for the intended transport/trade/for the issue of a veterinary certificate must be submitted to the competent authority
• Fee depends on type of transport/trade (entry, export, etc.), category (animal, goods) and time required
• Further conditions possible
• Recommendation: Contact the responsible official veterinarian
• Note: Traces NT is a database system of the European Union, use is mandatory, mapping of the physical route of the animals/goods
• Responsible: Veterinary and food inspection offices of the districts and independent cities

The first point of contact for the trade issues described above is always the local official veterinarian at the relevant veterinary and food inspection office in the district or city.

Almost all imports from third countries must pass through a veterinary border inspection post when they first come into contact with an EU member state.

Forms/online services available: possible
Written form required: Yes
Informal application possible: Yes
Personal appearance necessary: No