It will not be a straightforward and easy operation to transfer a dog from another EU member state to Malta, not even for a short holiday.
According to new EU rules that will come into force at the beginning of next year, any dog travelling to Malta, Finland, Ireland or the UK will have to be taken to a vet and be certified to be echinococcus-free in order to travel.
Details of the visit and possible treatment will have be recorded in the pet’s passport and the dog owner will have to make the planned journey with his/her pet within 24 to 120 hours from the test.
The move is based on advice by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that the risk of the introduction of echinococcus multilocularis into parasite-free areas through the movement of infected dogs is greater than negligible.
That risk, EFSA concluded, could be mitigated if dogs from endemic areas (the northern hemisphere, including central and northern Europe) were to be treated prior to entry into echinococcus-free areas.
A dog infected with echinococcus multilocularis - which is a kind of tapeworm – may serve as a source of infection for humans - alveolar echinococcosis, a rare zoonotic disease, and a source of contamination of the environment.
Malta, Finland, the UK and Ireland are the only EU member states on the list of echinococcus-free countries. To make it onto the list, member states have to bring in surveillance programmes and report the results to the European Commission once a year.
According to EU rules already in place and known as “the Pet Regulation”, pet dogs, cats and ferrets travelling with their owners for non-commercial movements to another EU member state must have a passport, or, when imported from a third country, a certificate with proof of valid anti-rabies vaccination.
The rules also provide for a transitional period – due to expire at the end of this year – to Malta, Ireland, Finland, Sweden and the UK making the entry of pet animals into their territory subject to health policy requirements that are more strict than for the movement of pets in the EU. They may legally insist that entry to their country be conditional on compliance with certain additional requirements in relation to rabies, echinococcosis or ticks.
Sweden is no longer on the list of member states claiming echinococcus-free status after it reported its first echinococcus cases in wild carnivores last January.