Transport of inverts and reptiles within EU

[Robert Sleaford]

Hello,

It is highly like I will be moving to Belgium for work on a spider-based PhD project this time next year. This means I will either have to sell all of my 70 spiders (and 5 snakes), or cut it down to my 5-10 favourites and take them with me.

Has anyone here had any experience of transporting inverts and reptiles within the EU? What problems did people encounter? What 'official bodies' do I need to contact regarding licences etc?

[wayne balcombe]

As far as i'm aware there is no licence required to transport inverts and reptiles within the EU as long as none are classified as DWA. the only issue you may have is individually tubbing all your spiders so they are safe to transport and having the tanks shipped seperately unless you have your own van.

i'm sure if you do plan on down sizing your collection there will be homes waiting for many of them via people here.

[James Box]

might be worth checking out what restrictions if any Belgium puts on inverts/reptiles.
due to the ridiculous nature of legislation around exotic cold blooded pets, i'd not be surprised if they make some harmless thing illegal without a license, like we do over here

but under normal circumstances, i think there are no issues besides the obvious hassle...certainly many people go to the Hamm show in Germany and come back laden with all manner of creatures...
also i know alot of people who routinely trade with European dealers.

[Phil Rea]

I seem to recall that you need documentation for any CITES spiders in your collection that you are transporting. I believe that a letter stating that they are captive bred is sufficient.

[Nicola Dolby]

Hi, yes Phil is right. I remember contacting my MP about this a while back. With CITES you need to prove the spid is CB but thats about it. If in doubt go onto the DEFRA website and ask there, they can clarify things further. All the best.

[Eleanor]

I think Wayne is right.

I had a similar problem a few years ago when moving from the Republic of Ireland to the UK. I never did manage to persuade DEFRA to tell me anything at all, despite much effort on my part.

In the end I think I got hold of someone at Heathrow (though I wasn't going to go through Heathrow) who dealt with live imports, at a fairly high level, and he told me that all I needed to do was check that the carrier was happy. No one was at all interested in them being CITES listed, since they were only being moved within the EU. I was going by ferry and they said no problem, as long as they stayed in my car. So I and my spiders all moved to the UK with no hassle at all.

Obviously Belgium will have its own regulations, so I think you need to contact the authorities that deal with imports there and see if you can get any sense out of them. I imagine they can't be any worse than DEFRA! But more importantly, do what I did and contact customs, since it's customs that will deal with your spiders when you move.

[Eduard Johan Hijmensen]

i think the question here is: will you fly to Belgium or will you drive?
within the EU there is freedom of movement of people and goods (spiders are seen as goods in this.)

for Brachypelma you need a CITES permit if the spider is WC or imported from outside the EU. if the spider is bred in the EU, all you need is a proof of captive bred (a statement by the seller that the spider is CB in the EU.)

if you drive, you will have no problems at all. i have done this many times, was inspected by customs with no problem at all. if you fly you will aslo have to comply with the airline regulations, pack your spiders as wildlife (IATA rules), have them inspected by customs and all that $$

hope this helps

Eddy

[chris carter]

Hi Robert

Here is an article from one of our club newsletters that may be of help.

Being a Kent based club it has been pointed out that some of the European shows are just as close to us as many of the UK shows. With this in mind I have contacted customs and have been given all the necessary laws covering the importing of live Arachnids from within the European union.
What you have to obtain depends on whether the specimens are C.I.T.E.S protected or not, the following Arachnids are C.I.T.E.S “B” Listed .

Scorpions
Pandinus Dictator
Pandinus palidum
Pandinus Imperator.

Tarantulas
Aphonopelma Albiceps
Aphonopelma Palidum
Brachypelmides Klassi and
ALL the Brachypelma species.

You can transit any non C.I.T.ES specimen freely throughout the E.U.
If you purchase a specimem from the list above you will need the following documentation to pass customs, a bill of sale on which the sellers “import permit” number or “sale certificate” number must be clearly displayed.

Chris

[Phil Rea]

Brachypelmides is not a valid genus. It's considered a junior synonym of Brachypelma (originally synonymized by Smith, 1995 & again by Locht, Yanez and Vazquez, 1999).

Brachypelmides klaasi = Brachypelma klaasi (Schmidt & Krause, 1994)

[chris carter]

Brachypelmides is not a valid genus. It's considered a junior synonym of Brachypelma (originally synonymized by Smith, 1995 & again by Locht, Yanez and Vazquez, 1999).

Brachypelmides klaasi = Brachypelma klaasi (Schmidt & Krause, 1994)

Thats correct Phil, i just cut & pasted the article from an 8 year old club newsletter at the time that is what D.E.F.R.A had as C.I.T.E.S B.


Chris