Travel requirements: Non-Commercial or commercial movement ?

Before travelling with your cat(s), it is important to determine if your movement is considered to be "commercial" or "non-commercial" under EU legislation, in order to know if you have to respect the requirements of Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 on non-commercial movement, or the requirements of Directive 2013/31/EU on commercial movement. Indeed, the EU definition of "non-commercial" movement can be a bit confusing.

According to Regulation 576/2013 (in force from December 2014), "‘non-commercial movement’ means any movement which does not have as its aim either the sale of or the transfer of ownership of a pet animal". Moreover, any movement of more than five animals – cats, dogs or ferrets (unless the animals are older than 6 months) is not considered "non-commercial".

To summarise, your movement will be commercial if:

• you are travelling with more than 5 dogs, cats or ferrets aged less than 6 months
• you are travelling with your cat(s) for the purpose of selling them
• you are travelling with cats belonging to an organisation (such as a shelter or a rescue organisation)
• you are travelling with cats with the aim to giving them up for adoption

On the other hand, your movement will be non-commercial if:

• you are travelling with less than 5 dogs, cats or ferrets (or more if older than 6 months)
• you as "physical person" are the owner of the animals
• you are travelling with no aim of selling them
• you are travelling with no aim of giving them up for adoption

The "non-commercial" movement requirements

1. The official EU Pet Passport
2. A valid rabies vaccination (some derogations exist in some countries. These derogations are available on http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/liveanimals/pets/nat_rules_dogscatferret_en.htm)
3. An identification of the animal by a microchip (transponder) or a tatoo
4. During the transport, cats have to be watered every 8 hours and fed every 24 hours

The "commercial" movement requirements

1. Cats have to be aged more than 8 weeks, otherwise they have to be accompanied by their mother
2. The official EU Pet Passport
3. A valid rabbies vaccination (some derogations exist in some countries. These derogations are available on http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/liveanimals/pets/nat_rules_dogscatferret_en.htm)
4. An identification of the animal by a microchip (transponder) or a tatoo
5. A veterinary certificate of less than 48 hours for each animal transported
6. The movement has to be recorded in the TRACES system (https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/sanco/traces/)
7. During the transport, cats have to be watered every 8 hours and fed every 24 hours

The new rules have been explained in an FAQ document "Q&A: rules for pet travel and pet passports" produced by FVE, the EU Commission and FECAVA.