Frequently asked questions

If you are travelling over a border crossing point to BiH, you should be familiar with the following rights and obligations you have as physical entities crossing the borderline.

In passenger traffic it is not allowed for passengers to bring in and take out certain goods. However, valid regulations for this area allow these goods to be transferred across the border, provided there are required permissions, or the goods are in allowed quantities, which primarily refers to:

• Goods of commercial nature,
• Weapons, ammunition and explosives (sports, hunting, military),,
• cultural goods, antiquities and works of art, of historical and other importance,
• narcotic drugs, precursors, poisons and other dangerous matters,
• foreign currency notes, loan stocks and bonds,
• endangered plant and animal species,
• medicines,
• live animals, including pets,
• plants,
• materials whose content is bad influence to the country’s well-being and interests.

Requirements reference health of animals for non-commercial import of pets in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and transit through its territory, as well as the rules applying to monitoring such movement, are regulated by the Rulebook on Health Requirements for Non-Commercial Import and Transit of Pets („Official Gazette of BiH“, No. 34/12).

This Rulebook applies to:

• Pets: dogs, cats, domestic ferrets, invertebrates (except for bees and crabs), ornamental tropical fish, reptiles, all birds (except poultry) and
• Mammals: rodents and domestic rabbits bred or held for company, recreation, protection or help to humans.

Non-commercial movement is movement of pets, numbering not more than five during import or transit through the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, accompanied by their owner or a person authorized by the owner, and whose import or transit is not of commercial nature.

For crossing of the state border of pets, it is required to have a passport, i.e. any document enabling clear identification of the pet, which includes paragraphs enabling checks of its status.

When importing or transiting, dogs, cats and domestic ferrets are considered identified if they have:

• a) A clearly visible tattoo, or
• b) Electronic identification system (transponder).

Regardless of identification system, it is necessary to indicate details about the name and the address of the animal owner.

Pets must have passports issued by a veterinarian authorized by competent authority of the exporting country, thus confirming that the animal was properly vaccinated against rabies.

In order to ensure that the pets imported to, or in transit through the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are identified, the following measures are taken:

• a) If there are five or less animals, the accompanying documentation is checked and pets are identified by the officers of the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH, at permitted border crossing points in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• b) ) If there are more than five animals, import is possible only based on Certificate of Nonexistence of Medical-Veterinary Obstacles for Import, issued by the Veterinary Office.

When importing or transiting, the owner or the person responsible for the pet shall present, to the officers of the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH, a passport or a veterinary-medical certificate confirming that the animal fulfills import or transit requirements.

From the aforementioned, it can be concluded that BP BiH is not competent for control, check of pets’ documentation, when crossing the border.

Moreover, we recommend that the passengers get informed about the requirements for entering and importing goods for respective country, since the mentioned regulations are not identical within the EU.