The information on animal and fish health is under revision
This page is under revision and contains references to regulations that are repealed or amended and replaced by new regulations. The new regulations entered into force 28. April 2022. See overview of new rules.
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority will update the information online and write guidelines on the new rules as soon as possible. The Authority will prioritise updating information and writing guidelines for those areas where such information is most needed.
General
The import of animals from countries subject to restrictions due to serious contagious diseases is forbidden, unless EU regulations included in the EEA agreement say otherwise. Norway has achieved a diseases-free status for certain diseases and has also been granted additional guarantees for specific diseases, which means that Norway can set additional requirements in relation to a number of diseases in connection with imports, cf. the section 'Disease-free status and additional guarantees' below.
Own regulations
Two sets of regulations mainly govern the trade of cloven-hoofed animals across national borders. One applies to trade within the EEA area and the other applies to import from approved third countries (countries outside the EEA area) or from approved areas in third countries. Some of the EEA trade regulations have provisions concerning third countries, but the lists of approved third countries/ regions in third countries and also models of veterinary certificates for the different animal species are in Annexes to Commision Regulation (EU) No 206/2010, implemented in the in Norwegian legislation in FOR 2010-07-23 nr 1137: Forskrift om import fra tredjestater av visse levende dyr, bier, humler og ferskt kjøtt av visse dyr”. The import of cloven-hoofed animals from other countries/ areas is not permitted.
Isolation
Norway has several national surveillance and monitoring programmes for diseases that occur very rarely or have never been detected in the country. Annex III of Regulation 27 June 2002 No 732 concerning measures to combat disease and zoonotic agents in animals (Dyrehelseforskriften), lists the diseases in question. Animals that come from herds that are not monitored in accordance with the programmes listed in in annex III or corresponding programmes, must not be transferred to monitored herds or flocks before the animals' infection status has been checked and all suspicions have been dispelled. In the meantime, the animals must be kept isolated form other animals.
The isolation period is six months for cattle, llamas and alpacas and two months for pigs and deer. The isolation period for cattle, llamas and alpacas shall nonetheless last until the animals are at least two and a half years old. The isolation period for sheep/goats is in principle two years, but because of Scrapie, for which Norway has been granted additional guarantees, movement restrictions are imposed for as long as seven years on holdings that import animals from countries where TSE (except for Nor98 in sheep and goats) has been confirmed three years prior to or after the date of dispatch of the animals.
Most of the animals that are imported are not covered by surveillance and monitoring programmes that correspond to those that apply to animal population in Norway. Consequently, the main rule is that imported animals must be placed in isolation at arrival, And are only allowed to interact with other animals when the required time of isolation has elapsed, and their infection status found satisfactory.
There is more information about the background for this in the sections “Disease free status and additional guarantees” and 'Isolation of animals after import' below.
Registration, reporting and control
The Inspection and Veterinary Checks Regulation (Regulation No 1484 of 31 December 1998 relating to Inspection and Veterinary Checks on Import and Export of Live Animals, Ova, Embryo, Semen and Animal Waste within the EEA and Import of Live Animals from Third Countries), cf. the section below 'Inspection and veterinary checks', specifies the provisions that relate to registration reporting and control. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority's forms on the websites must be used for registration and reporting.
Border controls for imports from third countries
Border controls must always be carried out for imports from third countries. All animals must be checked at authorised border control stations. The border control veterinarian shall check documents, identity and conduct physical checks of the consignment. This is specified in chapter four of the regulations relating to Inspection and Veterinary Checks. These regulations also contain special provisions concerning forwarding, transit of consignments and quarantine.
Animal health conditions
The animal health conditions for import are found in the various trading regulations. They include information, among other things, about requirements relating to origin, identification, health certificates and the requirements that apply to documentation and attestation of the animals health status. The import of animals from outside the EEA area is only permitted from countries/areas listed in the annex to the Commision Regulation (EU) No 206/2010, implemented in the in Norwegian legislation in FOR 2010-07-23 nr 1137: Forskrift om import fra tredjestater av visse levende dyr, bier, humler og ferskt kjøtt av visse dyr”. Annex I to this regulation also include models of veterinary certificates for the different animal species (ungulate).
Cattle:
Regulation No 305 of 25 March 2002 relating to animal health conditions for the import and export of cattle (Forskrift om dyrehelsemessige betingelser for innførsel og utførsel av storfe).
Pigs:
Regulation No 304 of 25 March 2002 relating to animal health conditions for the import and export of pigs (Forskrift om dyrehelsemessige betingelser for innførsel og utførsel av svin).
Sheep/goats:
Regulation No 232 of 14 March 2005 relating to animal health conditions for the import and export of sheep and goats (Forskrift om dyrehelsemessige vilkår for innførsel og utførsel av småfe).
Other cloven-hoofed animals:
Regulation relating to animal health conditions for the import and export of living mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, bees and bumble bees ().
Importer of camelids (llamas, alpacas and other camelids) must contact the Food Safety Authority, district office, for information that concerns testing for tuberculosis and brucellosis before import.
Circus animals:
Transporting circus animals within the EEA area is regulated by special provisions, cf. Regulation on animal health requirements for the transport of circus animals within the EEA (Forskrift om krav til dyrehelse ved forflytning av sirkusdyr innenfor EØS). (The EU Regulation: Commission Regulation (EC) No 1739/2005 of 21 October 2005 laying down animal health requirements for the movement of circus animals between Member States)
See the additional requirements relating to Bluetongue.
The import of animals to approved institutions, institutes and centres
The import of animals to approved institutions, institutes and centres within the EEA area is regulated by special provisions, cf. Regulation No 453 of 20 February 2004: Regulation relating to animal health conditions for approval of institutions, institutes and centres and the transfer of animals, semen, ova and embryos to and from approved facilities (Forskrift om dyrehelsemessige vilkår for godkjenning av institusjoner, institutter og sentra og overføring av dyr, sæd, egg og embryoer til og fra godkjente anlegg).
Disease-free status and additional guarantees
EEA countries can apply to be granted disease-free status or additional guarantees for certain diseases, which mean that the country is entitled to set additional requirements in connection with imports. This has been formalised in EU decisions for EU countries and ESA decisions in Norway's case. The health certificate must specify which of the decisions each country bases its additional requirements on. These decisions are constantly subject to amendment in line with individual countries attaining disease-free status or additional guarantees.
Norway has been granted special trading requirements for the following diseases:
Disease-free status:
- Tuberculosis, cattle
- Brucellosis, cattle
- Enzotic bovine leukosis (EBL), cattle
Additional guarantees:
- Infectious bovine rhiontracheitis (IBR), cattle
- Aujeszky’s disease (AD), pigs
- Scrapie, sheep and goats
Our disease-free status and additional guarantees for these diseases are documented in the ESA decisions that you can download from underneath this article. Reference must be made to these decisions in health certificates for animals to be exported.
Norway was originally granted disease-free status for Brucella melitensis in sheep and goats on a historic basis. However, this was not upheld in a special ESA decision in connection with the expansion of the EEA agreement. In practice, Norway has, nonetheless, continued its status as a disease-free country up to the present. Norway launched a surveillance and monitoring programme in 2003, and is now planning to apply to be granted disease-free status for Brucella melitensis, so that the formal requirement is met.
The Norwegian additional guarantee granted for scrapie implies that a holding, which imports animals from countries where TSE (except for Nor98 in sheep and goats) has been confirmed three years prior or after the date of dispatch, shall be put under official restrictions for seven years as from the date the animals arrive at the holding.
The holding will be put under restrictions although they fulfil the basic requirements as coming from a holding where no cases of scrapie (except for Nor98) have been confirmed, no eradication measures have been applied because of scrapie (except for Nor98) and the holdings have not contained animals identified as animals at risk referred to in Article 13(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 999/2001 for at least the last seven years prior to the date of dispatch of such animals. It is important to be aware of that Norway makes no exceptions for animals of the prion protein genotype ARR/ARR.
For sheep and goats imported from countries with similar additional guarantees for scrapie as Norway, the requirement is that they shall have been stalled in a holding where no sheep or goat have had restrictions because of TSE, except for Nor98, in the last seven years. No movement restriction based on the additional guarantee for scrapie, will be imposed on the importing holdings in such circumstances. Countries with additional guaranties for scrapie are listed in Commission Regulation (EU) No 999/2001 with amendments.
The countries in the EU that have disease-free status or additional guarantees are specified in the following acts of Community law:
Links are given below to the search result of the acts on EUR-Lex. Please chose latest consolidated version to view the updated act with amendments.
Cattle:
- Brucella, EBL and tuberculosis: Decision 2003/467/EC with amendments
- IBR: Decision 2004/558/EC with amendments
Pigs:
Sheep/goats:
- Brucella melitensis: Decision 93/52/EC with amendments
- Scrapie: Commission Regulation (EU) No 999/2001 with amendments
It is important to note that additional guarantees can be attained at different levels, which is specified in the individual act of Community law, with countries being placed in different annexes. For example, while some countries monitor a disease, they cannot by any means be deemed disease-free, and vaccination may also take place. Other requirements apply to animals that are transported from these countries/regions than from countries that are disease-free. Disease-free status may be awarded to whole countries or regions within a country.
Isolation of animals after import
This applies to animals from countries that do not have surveillance and monitoring programmes for animal diseases that correspond to Norway's programmes.
When the EEA agreement's Annex 1 (Veterinary and Phytosanitary matters) was amended, the import provisions were harmonised with the EU's joint provisions. This was deemed to pose a real threat to good animal health in Norway. Because of this, a number of measures were launched to protect the health of animals in Norway and thereby also protect the interests of the consumer. The national surveillance and monitoring programmes were and still are key policy instruments. They provide documented status for each disease and thereby provide a legal basis for isolating animals after import.
Annex III of Regulation 27 June 2002 No 732 concerning measures to combat disease and zoonotic agents in animals (Dyrehelseforskriften), lists the diseases that are monitored.
Animals that come from countries that do not have corresponding surveillance and monitoring programmes shall not be moved to monitored herds or flocks before their infection status has been checked and found satisfactory. The isolation premise shall be approved in advance by the official veterinarian in accordance with the isolation instructions (Instruks til Mattilsynet, Distriktskontorene, vedrørende isolasjon og undersøkelse av dyr).
The isolation period is six months for cattle, llamas and alpacas and two months for pigs and deer. The isolation period for cattle, llamas and alpacas shall in any case last until the animals are at least two and a half years old. The isolation period is in principle two years for sheep/goats, but because Norway has been granted special trading requirements regarding scrapie (sheep and goats), holdings that import sheep and goats may be put under official movement restrictions for as long as seven years if those requirements are not fulfilled, cf. section Disease-free status or additional guarantees.
The isolation instructions do not apply to circuses.
Bluetongue
Norway is free of bluetongue and there are no restrictions on the movement of animals within the country.
With respect to the import of animals into Norway from countries or regions with bluetongue restriction zones, Regulation No 416 of 30 April applies, in addition to other import rules. No 416 of 30 April “Forskrift om kontroll med, overvåkning av bluetongue og restriksjoner på forflytning av dyr som er mottakelige for bluetongue”, (in the section to the right) relates to the control and monitoring of bluetongue and restrictions on the movement of animals susceptible to bluetongue. Cf. articles 8, 9 and 9a and annex III in particular. (See also the EU Regulation: Commission Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007 of 26 October 2007 on implementing rules for Council Directive 2000/75/EC as regards the control, monitoring, surveillance and restrictions on movements of certain animals of susceptible species in relation to bluetongue, Regulation (EC) No 1266/2007 with amendments.
These regulations also apply to circus animals that are susceptible to the bluetongue virus. The current situation in Europe is such that most circus animals susceptible to the bluetongue virus in the restricted zones are vaccinated in accordance with an approved vaccination programme. Cf. the requirements that apply to the movement of vaccinated animals from a restriction zone, Annex III, Part A, second paragraph (5). For pregnant animals, cf. Annex III, Part A, third paragraph. In practice, circus animals that come from countries with restricted zones, cannot be brought into Norway if they are not vaccinated.
Testing circus animals for bluetongue
Cloven-hoofed circus animals are not covered by the isolation instructions, but animals that are susceptible to bluetongue and come from countries with restricted zones, must be tested for bluetongue as well as Q-fever. Elephants are not tested. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority's local office in the district in which the animals first arrive is responsible for testing animals on arrival.
A map showing the restricted zones in the EU/EEA has been prepared on the European Commissions website: Map - Bluetongue restricted zones.
Special protection measures
Note that special protection measures may apply to the import of animals (Særskilte beskyttelsesvedtak)
Identification of animals
Provisions relating to the tagging of animals are found in the Identification Regulations:
Regulation No 970 of 3 September 2002 relating to the marking, registration and reporting of llama and farmed deer (Forskrift om merking, registrering og rapportering av lama og oppdrettshjort).
Regulation nr 1131 of 9 july 2010 on traceability and identification of bovine animals and beef products, (Forskrift om sporbarhet og merking av storfe og storfekjøtt mv. )
Regulation No 1356 of 30 November 2005 relating to the identification, registration and reporting of sheep and goats (Forskrift om sporbarhet og merking av storfe og storfekjøtt mv.).
Cattle imported to Norway from an EU country must be accompanied by a passport for import. The passport must be submitted to the Authority upon arrival. For cattle that is to be moved from Norway to another EEA country, the NFSA district offices will issue cattle passports. According to the regulations regarding llamas and farmed deer., § 2 , camelids that are kept as pets are exempt for regulatory requirements. However, NFSA have decided that no llama and alpaca hold in Norway are to be considered as pet hold, and the animals should be identfied in accordance with specific requirements in the regulations.
Thoroughbred animals
When breeder cattle, pigs, sheep and goats are imported into Norway, the breeder documentation must be checked. Provisions relating to pedigree and identification documents etc. follow from the regulations relating to approved (thoroughbred) breeders for the different types of animals.
Cattle: Forskrift om godkjente (reinavla) avlsdyr av storfe
Pigs: Forskrift om godkjente (reinavla) avlssvin og hybridavlssvin
Sheep/goats: Forskrift om godkjente (reinavla) avlsdyr av sau og geit
Inspections and veterinary checks
Regulations relating to Inspection and Veterinary Checks on Import and Export of live animals, Ova, Embryo, Semen and Animal Waste within the EEA and Import of Live Animals from Third Countries. Click Forskrift om tilsyn og kontroll ved import og eksport av levende dyr, annet avlsmateriale og animalsk avfall innen EØS, og ved import av levende dyr fra tredjestater beskriver de generelle bestemmelse ved innførsel fra EØS og fra tredjeland in the section to the right.
Other links:
Contacting the Norwegian Food Safety Authority
For more information about the import regulations that apply to cloven-hoofed animals, contact your local district office or phone 22 40 00 00.