After Your Pets Arrive ... By Bruce H. Joffe We arrived early morning in Madrid, not knowing who— or where—we’d be asked to show our dogs’ docs. Not the customs agent who stamped our passports. Nor the immigration agent whose station we needed to pass through after retrieving our luggage. Just as we were about to leave the terminal building for the rental car area, a man dashed out of an adjoining vestibule. “The paperwork, please, for the dogs,” he asked in Spanish. We handed over our eight pages of documentation. He looked only at one page, bypassing every sheet of paper with the dates and signatures and certifications. Of interest to him only were the microchips, which he waved over each dog with a wand to confirm that the numbers listed on our papers agreed with the numbers shown on the wand. They did. On to the rental car, we learned our first lesson about dogs in Spain and Portugal: By law (in both countries), they must travel in the back of the vehicle, either hitched by harness to the safety belt receptacles … or in carriers. They can’t be loose, let alone sit on the front seat passenger’s lap. Lots of laws in Portugal deal with people and their pets. Not that everyone respects or even follows them, but when you’re a foreign expat or immigrant, you’ll want to know what’s required. According to the current legislation on pets, it is now mandatory to register them in the official pet information system (Sistema de Informação de Animais de Companhia–SIAC). The registration fee for each pet is 2.50 euros and is compulsory for all animals born in or present on Portuguese territory for a period of 120 days or more. Pet owners who do not meet this obligation can face a fine of no less than 50 euros—and that can reach
3,740 euros if you are an individual … 44,890 euros if you represent a business. The Portuguese Animal Law of 2019 also establishes the identification of an animal, its ownership or keeping, as well as mandatory health information (data on vaccines). In Portugal, registering your dog and getting a license for him/her are compulsory. You need to do this at the Junta da Freguesia (Town Hall) in the area where you are currently living. You’ll need to renew the license(s) for your pet(s) every year. Once an animal has been microchipped, an owner has 30 days to register it at the Junta de Freguesia. The animal only needs to be registered once during its lifetime. All dogs born after 1 July 2008 must have an electronic identification chip and a vaccination against rabies. To register your pet and get a license for it in Portugal, you must be able to provide proof of: • A health report for the animal (with an up-to-date rabies vaccination) • An electronic identification chip If your dog is for hunting, you need to show your hunting license. For ‘Potentially Dangerous’ dogs (category G below), you must show: • Your police record • Proof of liability insurance • A certificate to prove physical and mental fitness and health (for the owner) • Evidence that the animal has been castrated or sterilized Dogs and cats are categorized as follows: Category A—Pet dog Category B—Dogs for your economic livelihood Category C—Dogs for military purposes Category D—Dogs for scientific research Category E—Hunting dogs Category F—Guide dogs Category G— Potentially dangerous dogs Summer 2022 51
