Animal transporters

Apply for transporter authorisation ‑ in Swedish

Register as a transporter ‑ in Swedish

When you need to be authorised as a transporter and when you need to be registered as a transporter

What is regarded as transport in connection with an economic activity

What is regarded as transport in connection with an economic activity may vary from country to country. This means that a transport which is considered being in connection with an economic activity in Sweden may not automatically be considered being in connection with an economic activity in the other member states and vice versa. For this reason, it is very important that you find out what applies in transit countries and in the country of destination in good time before transporting animals abroad.

Please note that it is always primarily your own responsibility to assess whether your transport is in connection with an economic activity or not!

Here are examples of transports that may be considered being in connection with an economic activity in Sweden:

• transport that you receive some form of compensation for
• transport that takes place within a business that is carried out in the form of a company in accordance with tax legislation and vehicles and/or animals are included in the business
• transport of production animals where animals are part of the organisation of operations, for example, sows in a sow pool, production animals for slaughter etc. (Production animals are animals used for production of, for example, food, wool, fur or pelts)
  
• transport within professional trotting, horse racing, training­, and riding competitions
  
• transport of animals for display, for example, in circuses and zoos
• transport carried out by animal traders or pet stores
• transport of laboratory animals
• transport within activities that require authorisation for professional activities or for larger-scale activities according to chapter 6 paragraph 4 of the Animal Welfare Act (2018:1192).

You can find more information about when you need authorisation for professional activity or larger-scale activities on our horse and pets pages.

Transportation which does not take place in connection with an economic activity

Here are examples of transports that may be considered not being in connection with an economic activity in Sweden:

• transport of a few animals within a conservation programme if it takes place occasionally
• transport by a zoo for breeding purposes as part of a conservation programme
• transport carried out by hobby riders and drivers
  
• transport to and from a fosterer
• transport in connection with amateur exhibitions, for example, jousting
• transport in connection with educational activities and riding schools
• transport of riding school horses to and from competitions
  

Note, however, that the national rules apply for these transports. You can find information about the Swedish rules on the page about transport under the species specific pages.

Transporter authorisation

Before you transport live vertebrate animals in connection with an economic activity you need to apply for a transporter authorisation.

This is what to do

1. Attend a training course and obtain a certificate of competence if it is required for the kind of animal you are intending to transport.
2. If you have your own vehicle, you must contact the county administrative board to have your vehicle inspected and certified for the kind of animal that you are intending to transport.
3. Once you have obtained your certificate of competence and your vehicle (if any) has been inspected and certified by the county administrative board , you canapply for a transporter authorisation from the Swedish Board of Agriculture.

The transporter authorisation is valid for five years and you can apply for it using our e-service or on a form.

• E-service: transporter authorisation – animals transported in connection with an economic activity – in Swedish

Once you have a transporter authorisation, you must notify the Swedish Board of Agriculture of any changes relating to your authorisation to no more than 15 working days from the date when the changes took place.

To renew a transporter's license after 5 years, you need to apply again. In the application, refer to your existing SE- number and vehicle.

Please note that you must not have a record of serious infringements of Community legislation and/or national legislation on the protection of animals in the 3 years preceding the date of the application.

If you have employees

If you run an animal transport company with employed drivers, you only need to apply for one transporter authorisation for the company. However, it is important that you ensure that all drivers engaged in transporting animals are aware of the applicable rules and that the drivers transporting cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry or horses have a certificate of competence. Read more under the heading Certificate of competence.

In certain cases, you do not need a transporter authorisation

You do not need a transporter authorisation if you

• transport your own animals in your own vehicle for a shorter distance than 65 kilometres and a maximum of 8 times a year
• transport your own animals and the distance is shorter than 50 kilometres from the animals establishment
• urgently transports an injured or sick animal to and from the vet.
  

Prices

It costs SEK 1,300 to apply for a transporter authorisation if you apply through our e-service. If you pay with an invoice, it will cost SEK 50 more. If you already have a transporter authorisation and wish to change something in it, it will cost SEK 350.

If you apply on a form, it costs SEK 1,600. If you already have a transporter authorisation and wish to change something in it, it will cost SEK 750 to do so using a form.

You must also have a professional driving licence

When you transport other people’s animals in return for payment, you must also have a professional driving licence. You can apply for this licence at the Swedish Transport Administration, Transportstyrelsen.

• Application for a professional driving licence (transportstyrelsen.se) – in Swedish

Authorised animal transporters

You must have a transporter authorisation in order to be approved as an animal transporter. In our database you can see who has a transporter authorisation in Sweden.

• Database: Authorised animal transporters – in Swedish

When you operate a company that sells or make road vehicles intended for animal transport available for leasing

If you operate a company that sells or offers road animal transport vehicles available for leasing without you or your employees actually transporting the animals yourself, you need to notify us on a special form.

• Form: Registration of entrepreneurs who sell or make road vehicles intended for animal transport available for leasing – in Swedish

Certificate of competence

In order to transport domestic cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry or horses in connection with an economic activity, you need a certificate of competence. If someone other than the transporter is responsible for taking care of the animals during transport, this person must also have a certificate of competence.

To obtain a certificate of competence, you need to successfully complete a training course for the kind of animal you are intending to transport. During the course you will, among other things, learn about the applicable legislation, how to treat the animals, indications of stress among the animals, and how your method of driving affects the animals during transport.

The certificate of competence is valid until further notice provided that you are not sentenced for any animal protection offence.

In certain cases, you do not need a certificate of competence

You do not need a certificate of competence if you transport

• your own animals in your own vehicle for shorter distances than 65 kilometres and a maximum of 8 times a year
• your own animals and the distance is shorter than 50 kilometres from the animals establishment
• urgently transports an injured or sick animal to and from the vet.

Your transporter authorisation and certificate of competence can be withdrawn

If you do not comply with all the rules that apply in connection with live animal transport , your transporter authorisation and certificate of competence can be withdrawn.

Vehicle inspection

If you have your own vehicle, the county administrative board need to inspect your vehicle and certify that it complies with the rules required before you apply for a transporter authorisation. You will receive documentation from the county administrative board that inspects your vehicle or vehicles. When you have received the documentation from the county administrative board, you need to attach it to your application in a pdf format. The names of the documents are as follows:

• CERTIFICATE –road vehicle with ancillary means of transport complies with the EU requirements (form D104)
• Inspection of means of transport prior to registration (form D103).

• Request for inspection of animal transport (lansstyrelsen.se) – in Swedish

If you apply for transporter authorisation for long-distance transport, i.e. transport for more than 8 hours, you will also receive a vehicle certificate from the Swedish Board of Agriculture.

The vehicle certificate is valid for a maximum of five years from the date of issue. If you rebuild or change the vehicle in a way that affects animal welfare, you need to contact the county administrative board to have your vehicle re-inspected.

Transport documentation

Transport documentation with the following information shall accompany every transport:

• the origin and owner of the animals
• the place of consignment
• the date and time for the start of the transport
• the intended destination
• the expected transport time

There is a form that you can use to fill in this information but you may also enter the information in a book or similar. You must be able to show the information to the authority in the event of a control.

• Form: Transport documentation

If the transport is subject to the requirement of a journey log, the information above will be included in the journey log. In these cases, it is therefore sufficient that a copy of the completed journey log is kept in the transport vehicle. You can find more information about this under the heading Journey log.

You do not need transport documentation when

• your transport does not take place in connection with an economic activity
• you transport in connection with an economic activity but the transport is less than 50 km from the animals’ establishment.

Please note that the transport documentation, transporter authorisation, the inspection certificate and the vehicle certificate must always be kept in the vehicle so that you can show them during a control.

Navigation system for long-distance transport

When you transport domestic horses, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs and the transport takes more than 8 hours, your vehicle must be equipped with a navigation system.

You do not need to have a navigation system when you transport horses that

• have an FEI licence (previously FEI passport) or
• are registered in the main section of a stud book recognised by an EU Member State.

The system must be able to register all movements and stops. The system shall also include sensors for temperature and aperture opening as well as the possibility of transferring data to a fixed recipient. You must save the information and be able to provide it for at least 3 years if the country administrative board requests it for inspection.

In order for the vehicle to be approved for long-distance transport exceeding 8 hours, it must be equipped with a navigation system when the county administrative board inspects it as previously explained under the heading Vehicle inspection.

Contact Transportfackens yrkes- och arbetsmiljönämnd (TYA) if you would like advice on navigation systems.

• TYA’s website (tya.se) – in Swedish

Transport by air, rail and livestock vessels

There are special regulations for transport of animals by road or rail and by livestock vessels and by air. You must read all of the rules that apply for the specific means of transport in the EU regulations and the regulations of the Swedish Board of Agriculture. You can find them under the heading Regulations.

You can read a short summary of what the rules entail below.

Special regulations apply for transporting animals by air. Contact the airline company to find out what applies.

Transportation abroad

What is considered as a transport in connection with an economic activity and the rules that apply vary from country to country. This means that your transport may be regarded as taking place in connection with an economic activity and that you are subject to the requirement for transport authorisation in another country even if the transport does not require this in Sweden. If you are intending to transport animals abroad, it is therefore very important that you find out what applies in transit countries and in the country of destination in good time before transporting animals abroad.

Register as a transporter

When you are intending to transport ungulates and poultry across country lines , you must be registered as a transporter. This also applies if you transport cats, dogs and ferrets between countries if the animals are going to change owner, travel more than 5 days before or after their owner, or travel in a group of more than 5 animals.

This means that if you are intending to transport animals across country lines, you may need both a transporter authorisation and to be registered as a transporter. Please note that there are different e-services for applying for transporter authorisation and for registering as transporter in transport between countries.

• E-service: Register as a transporter – moving animals between countries – in Swedish

You can see below which kind of animals you need to register as transporter for.

Animal journey log

When you transport domesticated cattle, sheep, goats, pigs or equidae other that registered equidae abroad and the transport takes place in connection with an economic activity as well as exceeds 8 hours, you must have a journey log in the vehicle.

This means that you do not need to have an animal journey log when you transport equidae that

• have an FEI licence (previously FEI passport) or
• are registered in the main section of a stud book recognised by an EU Member State.

As an organiser of a long (over 8 hours) transport, you are responsible for

• planning the transport
• making sure that section 1, Planning in the form Journey log is sent to the Swedish Board of Agriculture by e-mail as well as creating the journey log in TRACES.NT in accordance with the instructions below.
• submitting the journey log to the county administrative board once the transport has been completed.

• Form: Journey log

Do this with the journey log

1. No later than 2 working days prior to departure, you must send in section 1, Planning in the form Journey log, via e-mail to the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
   djurvalfard@jordbruksverket.se
2. You also need to create a journey log in the TRACES.NT system and fill in the section 1, Planning. In order to be able to do this, you first need to be validated by the Swedish Board of Agriculture as user of an activity in TRACES.NT. This step can take some time so make sure you do this in good time in order for us to be able to help you. Please note that the journey log in TRACES.NT must contain the same information as in the sent in version of section 1, Planning that you provided to us via e-mail.
3. If the journey log is approved, we will send an approved version back to you. The approved journey log must be kept in the transport vehicle during the entire duration of the transport.
4. When you carry out the transport you need to complete sections 2, 3 and, when necessary, section 5, of the journey log. When the transport has been completed, you send in section 4, declaration by transporter, to the county administrative board in the county you travelled from. You do not need to send in sections 2 and 3. If you have filled in section 5, Specimen anomaly report , you must send this to the Swedish Board of Agriculture by e-mail.
   djurvalfard@jordbruksverket.se

Register transport of animals between countries in TRACES

When you transport animals between EU Member States and when you export animals to a country that is not in the EU, it must be registered in the EU common data system TRACES.NT. When you import animals from a country outside the EU, it must also be registered in TRACES.NT.

You must also register transports of cats, dogs and ferrets in TRACES.NT when:

• the animal is going to change owner
• the animal travels more than 5 days before or after it’s owner
• more than 5 animals are traveling in a group. This applies even if the owner is accompanying the animals or not.

• E-service: TRACES.NT – in Swedish

More transport rules for respective kinds of animals

In order for animals to have as good a situation as possible during transport, there are rules for the respective kind of animal which you also need to read about and follow.

• Transport of cattle – in Swedish
• Transport of pigs – in Swedish
• Transport of sheep and goats – in Swedish
• Transport of poultry – in Swedish
• Transport of horses – in Swedish

To find about all the rules, you should read the legislation, both the Swedish provisions and the EU regulation for protection of animals during transport.

Questions and answers