The science here is simpler than it sounds. France asks for three things: a microchip, a rabies vaccination given after that chip, and an EU animal health certificate still inside its ten days at the border. No import permit. No quarantine. Pixel has crossed into France on exactly that file more than once. What goes wrong is almost never the medicine — it is the order of the first two steps.

Bringing a pet to France requires three documents in the right order: a microchip, a rabies vaccine within the destination's wait window, and a government-endorsed health certificate. The table below lays out exactly what's required, what's not, and where each rule comes from.

How France handles your pet

Key points

  • What happens at the border: pets arriving from outside the EU are presented at a designated travellers' point of entry, where the competent authorities carry out a documentary and identity check — "At the time of entry, you must contact the competent authorities present there, who will check your pet's documents and identity." (europa.eu)
  • If those checks fail: "it may be returned to the country of departure, be placed in quarantine until such time as it complies with EU health rules or if neither of these options are possible, the animal may be euthanised." (europa.eu)
  • Four of France's designated air entry points open seasonally only; check yours if you are travelling outside the summer schedule

Downloadable forms

Each fact comes straight from the operator’s published policy. Tap the to read the exact wording; the opens the source page.

Health & documents

Microchip · Required Yesverified 2026-10-27
Microchip · StandardISO 11784 (HDX or FDX-B technology) or Annex A of ISO 11785verified 2026-08-28
Microchip · Must be done before vaccination Yesverified 2026-10-27
Quarantine · Typenone_if_compliantverified 2026-09-01
Quarantine · Required Noverified 2026-10-27
Quarantine · Approved facility required Noverified 2026-09-01
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Required Yesverified 2026-07-14
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Approved labs list
  • https://food.ec.europa.eu/animals/movement-pets/designated-laboratories-performing-rabies-antibody-titration-tests_en
verified 2026-09-01
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Minimum level iu ml0.5verified 2026-10-26
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Test validity monthsValid for the animal's lifetime, provided the rabies vaccination is kept continuously valid monthsverified 2026-09-01
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Approved laboratory required Yesverified 2026-07-15
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Waiting period after test days90 daysverified 2026-10-27
Rabies titer test (FAVN) · Test must follow vaccination days30 daysverified 2026-08-20
Health certificate · Issueran official veterinarianverified 2026-08-26
Health certificate · Required Yesverified 2026-10-27
Health certificate · Endorsed byofficial veterinarianverified 2026-07-15
Health certificate · Validity days10 daysverified 2026-10-27
Health certificate · Original required Yesverified 2026-08-28
Health certificate · Bilingual required Yesverified 2026-09-01
Health certificate · Government endorsed Yesverified 2026-08-28
Rabies vaccination · Required Yesverified 2026-10-26
Rabies vaccination · Booster required Yesverified 2026-10-27
Rabies vaccination · Booster intervalAs specified by the vaccine manufacturer — each booster must fall within the previous vaccination's validity period monthsverified 2026-09-01
Rabies vaccination · Waiting period after vaccination21 daysverified 2026-10-27
Rabies vaccination · Min age at vaccination12 weeksverified 2026-10-27
Tapeworm treatment · Required Noverified 2026-10-27
Internal parasite treatment · Required Noverified 2026-09-01

Other rules

Pets accepted Acceptedverified 2026-07-14
Minimum age15 weeksverified 2026-10-26

Service & assistance animals

Import rules modified Noverified 2026-10-27

Timing chain

Day -90 microchip implant · Day -21 rabies vaccine deadline · Day -10 health certificate issued · Day 0 arrive at customs

Conditional requirements

These rules apply only to some travellers — where the pet is departing from, where it has been, or who is travelling with it. Most people can ignore them, but if one applies to you it can change what you need, or mean denied entry if you skip it.

Pet arriving from, or recently in, a third country or territory NOT listed in Annex I or II to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/636 — If your pet has been in one of 154 higher-risk countries in the last 6 months:

  • Rabies titer (blood) test: Rabies antibody titration test >= 0,5 IU/ml, on a sample taken by an authorised veterinarian at least 30 days after the primary vaccination and not less than 90 days before the animal health certificate is issued, performed in a designated laboratory (Del. Reg. (EU) 2026/131; model certificate Annex III to Impl. Reg. (EU) 2026/705, point II.3.1).

Breed restrictions

Banned breeds: Staffordshire terrier (non-LOF), American Staffordshire terrier / pit-bull (non-LOF), Mastiff / boerbull (non-LOF), Tosa (non-LOF) verified 2026-10-27

Restricted breeds: chiens de 2ème catégorie verified 2026-08-31

Ports of entry (78)

  • Ajaccio-Napoléon-Bonaparte
  • Albert-Bray
  • Angers-Marcé
  • Angoulême-Brie-Champniers
  • Annecy-Methet
  • Auxerre-Branches
  • Avignon-Caumont
  • Bâle-Mulhouse
  • Bastia-Poretta
  • Beauvais-Tillé
  • Bergerac-Dordonge-Périgord
  • Béziers-Vias
  • Biarritz-Pays Basque
  • Bordeaux-Mérignac
  • Brest-Bretagne
  • Brive-Souillac
  • Caen-Carpiquet
  • Calais-Dunkerque
  • Calvi-Sainte-Catherine
  • Cannes-Mandelieu
  • Carcassonne-Salvaza
  • Châlons-Vatry
  • Chambéry-Aix-les-Bains
  • Châteauroux-Déols
  • Cherbourg-Mauperthus
  • Clermont-Ferrand-Auvergne
  • Colmar-Houssen
  • Deauville-Normandie
  • Dijon-Longvic
  • Dinard-Pleurtuit-Saint-Malo
  • Dôle-Tavaux
  • Epinal-Mirecourt
  • Figari-Sud Corse
  • Grenoble-Alpes-Isère
  • Hyères-le Palivestre
  • Paris-Issy-les-Moulineaux
  • La Môle-Saint-Tropez
  • La Rochelle-Ile de Ré
  • La Roche-sur-Yon
  • Laval-Entrammes
  • Le Castellet
  • Le Havre-Octeville
  • Le Mans-Arnage
  • Le Touquet-Côte ďOpale
  • Lille-Lesquin
  • Limoges-Bellegarde
  • Lorient-Lann-Bihoué
  • Lyon-Bron
  • Lyon-Saint-Exupéry
  • Marseille-Provence
  • Metz-Nancy-Lorraine
  • Monaco-Héliport
  • Montpellier-Méditérranée
  • Nantes-Atlantique
  • Nice-Côte d’Azur
  • Nîmes-Garons
  • Orléans-Bricy
  • Orléans-Saint-Denis-de-l’Hôtel
  • Paris-Charles de Gaulle
  • Paris-le Bourget
  • Paris-Orly
  • Pau-Pyrénées
  • Perpignan-Rivesaltes
  • Poitiers-Biard
  • Quimper-Pluguffan
  • Rennes Saint-Jacques
  • Rodez-Aveyron
  • Rouen-Vallée de Seine
  • Saint-Brieuc-Armor
  • Saint-Etienne Loire
  • Saint-Nazaire-Montoir
  • Strasbourg-Entzheim
  • Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées
  • Toulouse-Blagnac
  • Toulouse-Francazal
  • Tours-Val de Loire
  • Troyes-Barberey
  • Valence – Chabeuil

verified 2026-09-01

France requires identification to precede the rabies vaccination. A dose recorded before a chip number exists cannot be tied to the animal, so it does not count and has to be repeated after chipping. Read the certificate and confirm the chip date falls earlier than the vaccination date. Both dates are printed on it, and the entry point reads them against each other.
France bars first-category dogs: Staffordshire terrier, American Staffordshire terrier or pit-bull, mastiff or boerbull, and Tosa — in each case the unregistered, non-LOF animal. A pedigree-registered dog of the same type falls into the second category and may enter under conditions instead. The deciding fact is the LOF registration rather than the dog's appearance, so carry the registration paper.
The EU animal health certificate is valid for 10 days, counted from issue to the documentary and identity checks at the designated traveller entry point. That window fixes the vet appointment rather than the travel date, and a certificate written too early expires in transit. Book the vet inside the 10 days before departure and keep the original with the animal.
Quick reference for France: chip, then rabies, then a certificate used inside 10 days. No permit, no quarantine, and no category-one dog without LOF papers. The single most common rejection is a vaccination dated before the chip — it cannot be fixed at the border, only redone. Build a personalized plan with your own dates and the sequence falls out of it automatically.
Get YOUR personalized plan for France →