Travelling with dogs or cats to Norway

You may take a dog, cat or ferret with you to Norway if you satisfy the relevant requirements. ID-marking, pet passport, rabies vaccination and tapeworm treatment are some of the requirements if you are to take your pet with you to Norway to live or for a holiday, or if you have travelled abroad with a pet and now want to return. Here you can read about the regulations that apply for import of various animals. 

Some dog breeds are banned in Norway. You can find information about these in the link below. 

It is the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, NFSA (Mattilsynet) that handles the legislation regarding import of animals to Norway.

These regulations apply when you are travelling with dogs, cats, and ferrets that you are bringing with you as pets from an EU/EEA country to Norway:

• The animal must be marked with a microchip or a tattoo (applied before 3 July 2011).
• The animal must have an EU-approved pet passport.
• The animal must be vaccinated against rabies. Animals that are only being moved between Norway and Sweden do not need to be vaccinated against rabies.
• The animal must be at least 12 weeks old when it was vaccinated.
• All dogs travelling into Norway must be treated for fox dwarf tapeworm (anti-echinococcus [worm] treatment). The requirement for worm treatment does not apply for cats and ferrets, nor for dogs imported directly from Finland, Malta, or Ireland. The tapeworm treatment must be administered by a veterinary surgeon 24-120 hours before the arrival in Norway. If you travel often with the dog in the EU/EEA, you can treat the dog continuously against the tapeworm parasite with a maximum interval of 28 days (the 28-day rule).
• When pets are travelling from countries in the EU/EEA, the animal and necessary documentation must be presented to the Norwegian Customs for checking. Walk/drive through the red zone in the Customs area. Animals that are only being moved between Norway and Sweden may be taken through the green zone.
• Note that a specific ban applies regarding the import of dog breeds that are banned in Norway.
• If you are bringing more than five animals into Norway, or if you are importing animals for sale or transfer to another owner, there are specific regulations about commercial import.
• If you are bringing more than five animals from the EU/EEA to participate in a competition, and you have documentation to prove this, the animals must satisfy some specific requirements.

Regulations vary regarding the import of dogs, cats and ferrets from countries outside the EU/EEA. In addition to the treatment and documentation requirements applying to import of pets, specific requirements apply with regard to border crossing, point of entry, and notification of the entry to the appropriate inspection agency. Read more on the website of the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet). 

Svalbard is not covered by the EEA Agreement, so there are strict regulations regarding sending or taking animals and animal products from Svalbard to the mainland. There is rabies on Svalbard, but mainland Norway is free from the disease.

If you want to take a dog to Svalbard, a permit is required from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. A permit is granted for one year at a time. 

No permits are issued for taking cats or ferrets to Svalbard. No permit is needed to take rabbits, hamsters, tame rats, caged birds, aquarium fish, etc. to and from Svalbard.