They are without doubt getting stricter, or to be accurate more thorough, at the Pet Passport Control at Calais when we take the Shuttle to the UK on our pet transport runs.
I have absolutely no issue with this, although I would like to see more consistency as what one inspector will pull you up on, another will let go, and as a result it is taking longer for the message of the ‘right way’ to filter down to rescues, vets and individuals transporting their pets.
The new Pet Passports very clearly state that when applying the rabies vaccinations in the vets Stamp & Signature box it must at least include name, address, telephone number and signature.
This was a new requirement when they introduced the new passports so a lot of the vets stamps do not include this information, so it is not being added to the passports.
This has never been an issue to us regards rescue animals going under TRACES as the inspectors at Calais only check the validity of the TRACES Certificates, but for PETS Scheme animals it can be an issue if not completed correctly.
On our latest transport we encountered a very thorough inspector who noticed the vets stamp did not have the address and telephone number. Fortunately because we had a number of pets from the same owner all their passports had the same vets details in the front (with address and phone number) and the same stamp on the Rabies, Worming and Clinical Examination pages so they accepted the passports, but did issue a Waiver Notice confirming what needed to be done.
So please, rescue or owner, check that the vet fills in your passport correctly as we can’t take animals with incorrectly completed passports.