An agreement set to be announced at the upcoming EU-UK summit could mark the return of pet passports allowing easier travel across the Channel for holidaymakers with dogs, cats and ferrets.
The EU and the UK are negotiating a package of measures to bring cooperation closer as part of the “reset” of the relationship promised by former Prime Minister Keir Starmer and taken on by current PM Andy Burnham.
These measures should be announced at the summit planned on 20 November in Brussels.
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The deal will include a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement on food trade, the UK access to the EU electricity market, and the establishment of a youth mobility scheme.
The SPS, considered the easiest part of the deal, will remove checks on food and animal products, and restore the use of EU pet passports for holidaymakers from the UK. In exchange, the UK will apply EU rules on animal and food standards and ensure that imports from non-EU countries meet EU requirements.
Pet passports issued by authorised veterinarians allow multiple trips within the bloc for dogs, cats and ferrets. British travellers lost the opportunity to use them after the withdrawal from the EU, as the UK was classified as a third country. As a result, travellers from Great Britain to the EU need an Animal Health Certificate for every trip (while Northern Ireland remains part of the EU pet travel scheme).
On April 22nd 2026 more rigorous EU rules on pet passports also took effect, excluding from the scheme residents of England, Scotland and Wales from the scheme.
But the situation is likely to change in the future. According to a UK government statement, if the SPS agreement will be approved as foreseen, “pet owners will be able to get a multi-use pet passport valid for EU travel, rather than obtaining a new animal health certificate for each trip.”
The agreement should become effective around mid-2027. Until then, “owners will still need an animal health certificate for their dog, cat or ferret if they are travelling from Great Britain to an EU country,” the statement says.
Details on how to bring a pet into the EU from a non-EU country are available here.
