The official health certificate — and why the one in your permit is usually wrong

Last verified: 2026-08-25

The answer

The health certificate that travels with your animal comes from your own country’s authority, not from Australia — and in at least two of the three corridors, the specimen certificate attached to your Australian import permit is explicitly not the one to use.

Both APHIS and CFIA say this plainly. APHIS: “The health certificate provided in the Australian-issued import permit is not specific for pets from the United States.” CFIA: “Instead of using the Veterinary Export Health Certificate found on the import permit, use Veterinary Health Certificate — Cat (HA3199) or Dog (HA3200).”

If you prepare the wrong form, the work is not wasted so much as unusable — and you find out at the endorsement appointment, days before departure.

How each one is obtained

United States. The accredited veterinarian issues it electronically and submits it through VEHCS for USDA digital endorsement. The endorsed certificate is printed from VEHCS rather than posted back, and the printed, endorsed certificate must accompany the animal.

For how VEHCS actually moves your paperwork end to end, see the USDA-accredited vet and VEHCS.

Great Britain. Applications from England, Scotland and Wales go through the online export health certificate service, which needs a Government Gateway account and a Defra account; Northern Ireland applies through DAERA’s DECS process. You nominate the Official Veterinarian who receives the certificate, and an export application form (EXA) is part of the process in England, Scotland and Wales.

For the OV66 authorisation itself, and what to do with no vet nearby, see OV66 identity check.

Canada. The certificate is completed and signed by a licensed veterinarian, then endorsed at an appointment with a CFIA Official Veterinarian.

There is a second Canadian document that is easy to reach for and wrong here. The CFIA publishes a general-purpose Canadian International Health Certificate for pets travelling abroad, and it says of itself:

There are countries/zones for which the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has either negotiated specific veterinary health certificates, or where the country has provided their own health certificate. Therefore, the Canadian International Health Certificate should not be used for those countries.

Australia is one of those countries: HA3199 and HA3200 exist precisely because Australia and the CFIA negotiated them. The general certificate is not a substitute, and presenting it does not start the process — it wastes the veterinary appointment it was signed at.

What must be attached

The certificate rarely travels alone. In Great Britain, for a dog, the attachments are:

• the RNATT declaration;
• the identification declaration — both of them, where the OV66 checks were done;
• laboratory reports: RNATT, Leishmania, Brucella (if not desexed), Leptospira (if not vaccinated).

In the United States, you retain copies of the endorsed USDA identity declaration and the endorsed RNATT declaration to attach to the export health certificate.

Signing and stamping

Great Britain: signature, date and stamp of the official government veterinarian on each page, with the stamp of the government veterinary administration, and the date in day/month/year format.

Canada: a CFIA Official Veterinarian must sign, date and stamp all pages.

Both are page-by-page requirements. A certificate endorsed only on its final page is not endorsed.

Originals travel; scans stay behind

For the Australian permit application you submit scans. The original documents travel with your animal. Do not send an original away, and do not arrive at an endorsement appointment with only copies — CFIA specifically asks for the original RNATT laboratory report and rabies vaccination certificate.

What this page does not tell you

• The content of each certificate clause by clause.
• Fees and appointment lead times for endorsement.
• How long a certificate stays valid before travel, which is set per corridor and per certificate.
• The notes for guidance behind certificate 2432 — the certificate page has been read, but its detailed notes only for the dog certificate 2580.