Which papers need a government stamp, and who may give it

Last verified: 2026-08-25

What “endorsed” means

Not “signed by your vet”. Endorsement is an act by a government official, and Australia specifies its shape:

• the signature of the official veterinarian;
• the date of endorsement;
• the competent authority stamp;
• on every page of a multi-page document — unless the pages are linked by a unique certificate number issued by the competent authority.

Great Britain adds the stamp of the government veterinary administration and requires day/month/year dates. Canada requires a CFIA Official Veterinarian to sign, date and stamp all pages.

Who may endorse, by corridor

Canada’s constraint is worth restating because it is absolute: CFIA cannot endorse or issue a certificate once the animal is no longer in Canada. An appointment missed is not rescheduled after departure.

What gets endorsed

• The export health certificate — always.
• The RNATT declaration — endorsed by the official government veterinarian employed by the competent authority. The department accepts only the country-specific declaration negotiated with approved trading partners.
• The identity declaration, where one exists. In the US, USDA compiles and endorses it and emails it directly to Australia. In Great Britain, each of the two OV66 vets emails their own declaration to DAFF from their registered address.
• Laboratory reports, sometimes. In Great Britain they may be signed and stamped by an Official Veterinarian only if the dog was fully prepared in the UK; where preparation was split across countries, those documents must be attached and fan-stamped with the certificate instead of being signed.

What can be amended, and what cannot

This is where an ordinary mistake becomes an expensive one:

An error in an unamendable field means repeating the underlying step — a new sample, a new test, and possibly a new 180-day wait. Check these at the appointment, while the animal, the scanner and the veterinarian are all in the same room.

Submitting to Australia

You submit scans with the BICON permit application; the originals travel with the animal. To be assessed smoothly:

• documents in English or bilingual, legible;
• laboratory reports from the testing laboratory, not a forwarding laboratory;
• multi-page documents as a single file, not separate images;
• for more than one pet, files named per animal;
• no extra documents — photographs, medical details, routine vaccinations and pet passports are not wanted and slow the assessment down.

What this page does not tell you

• Endorsement fees and appointment lead times, which differ by country and office.
• What to do when an official disagrees with a document’s completion — raise it with your competent authority before travel, never at the airport.
• Whether an electronic stamp is acceptable outside the US VEHCS process.