Import and travel with horses from countries outside the EU
There are specific rules that you must consider when travelling with or trading with horses and horse semen, ova and embryos.
Transports between countries
Register as a transporter
If you are transporting horses to or from Sweden, you must be registered as a transporter. Registration as a transporter is not the same as the transporter’s permit required to transport animals as part of your economic activities. You can register as a transporter using our e‑service.
Documentation
All horse transports that take place across national borders are subject to documentation requirements. Here are the different forms of documentation that may be required for your particular transport:
Journal
When you are transporting horses between countries, you should keep records of the transport. You can keep these records on paper or in a digital format, and you are to keep the records for at least 3 years. The records should contain information about
- which establishments were visited
- which horses were transported.
If the transport is subject to the requirement for transport documents, the above journal information can be added to the transport documents.
Transport documents
Horses transported in connection with economic activities and when the transport exceeds 50 kilometres from the animals' holding must also be accompanied by transport documents. The transport documents must contain the following information:
- origin and owner of the animal
- place of dispatch
- date and time of dispatch
- intended destination
- expected transport time.
There is a form for transport documents that you can use. However, you can also write the information in a book or similar, and you must be able to show it to the authority. If the transport is covered by the requirement for a journey log, the journey log is considered a transport document and you do not need to fill in both.
Journey log
When you transport unregistered horses abroad and the transport is in connection with economic activity and takes longer than 8 hours, you must have a journey log in the vehicle. Unregistered horses are horses that do not have a FEI license or are registered in the main section of a studbook approved by the EU. On our page for animal transporters, you can find more information about what to do when your transport is subject to the journey log requirement.
Clean and disinfect the transport vehicle
When horses are transported between EU Member States or to and from countries outside the EU, the equipment in which the horse is transported must be cleaned and disinfected after each journey.
Plan the transport carefully
When you travel to and trade with certain countries, there may be infectious animal diseases which may restrict where you are able to transport your horses. This may mean that you cannot move them within or out of such an area. Make sure you find out what applies in the country to which your horses are to be transported.
Also make sure that you plan the transport carefully so that the horses are not held up somewhere along the way, and find out which rules apply for transport of horses in the country to which you are travelling. The rules differ between countries.
Travelling with or moving horses from countries outside the EU
This section describes what rules apply when you travel with a horse or buy a horse which you are bringing into Sweden from countries outside the EU.
You are only permitted to travel with or bring a horse to Sweden from certain countries outside the EU. In order to be permitted, the country or the part of the country from which the horse comes must be included in Annex IV to the EU regulation.
The establishment must be registered
Establishments with horses must be registered. If horses are being brought into your establishment from countries outside the EU, the establishment must have been registered for at least 4 weeks prior to the horses arriving.
This is because the Swedish Board of Agriculture must enter the information about the establishment in the EU-wide computer system Traces, which is used in conjunction with the transport of animals.
The horse must have valid identification documents
When you are travelling with or bringing a horse into Sweden from countries outside the EU, the horse must have a horse passport or other valid identity document.
Horses from certain countries must have a competition passport or be registered in a breeding book
From certain countries, horses may only be brought into the country if they are registered in the main section of a breeding book which is included on the European Commission’s list of breeding bodies, or if they have an international competition passport (FEI passport).
The horse needs a health certificate
The horse needs to have a health certificate issued by an official veterinarian showing that it is healthy. The certificate shall be issued on the same day as the horse is loaded, in the country from which the horse is coming. The health certificate must state which tests or analyses, if any, must be done before the horse is transported to Sweden. The certificate is valid for 10 days.
You must retain the health certificate for 6 months so that you are able to present it to an official veterinarian in the case, for example, of infection tracing.
Different health requirements from different countries
The requirements on tests and analyses vary depending on which diseases are present in the country from which the horse is being transported. In order to find out what applies in any given case, you need to find out which sanitary group the country or the zone, from which the horse comes, is in. The countries and zones from which you may bring in animals are listed in the EU regulation.
- Animals must be brought in via an approved border control station
You may only bring in animals from countries outside the EU via an approved border control post. Sweden do not have a border control station, so animals must be imported via another EU country.
When you bring in animals, you must notify the border control veterinarian at least one working day in advance of arrival to the border control post. You must also report the animals to the border control post in the Trace system via a CHED (Common Health Entry Document). The person who creates the CHED can be a private person, a company importing the animals, or a company in charge of organisation of shipping.
If the import takes place via another EU country, it must be reported to the border control post where the animals enter the EU. When the animals cross the border into Sweden, you must report the entry to customs.
Notify the customs office
When you are travelling with or bringing a horse into Sweden from countries outside the EU, you must notify the entry to the relevant customs office when you cross the border into Sweden.
If the horse is staying in Sweden
If the horse is staying in Sweden or any other EU Member State for more than 90 days, you must either obtain a horse passport for the horse, or make a supplemental registration.
Bringing in semen, ova and embryos from horses from other countries
This section describes what rules apply when you import or buy semen, ova and embryos from horses from countries outside the EU.
You may only import semen, ova and embryos from countries outside the EU if those countries are approved for import.
You need a permit for insemination and activities involving embryos
In order to trade with semen, ova and embryos, you must have a permit for activities involving insemination and embryos. The semen must come from semen collection centres which are approved by the EU.
The semen, ova, and embryos must have been stored in an approved collection centre or approved storage centre before being imported into Sweden.
Health certificates and zootechnical certificates
The consignment has to be accompanied by an official health certificate in the original. The health certificate must be issued by an official veterinarian in the country from which the animal is coming no earlier than 24 hours before loading.
If you import semen and want to enroll offspring in the studbook, a zoothechnical certificate must also accompany the semen.
Your establishment must be approved for intra-EU trade with semen, ova and embryos.
Import via an approved border control post
When you are importing semen, ova and embryos from countries outside the EU, except Norway, the import must pass through an approved border control post. You must notify the veterinarian at the border control post of the import, at the latest one day in advance.
