EU998 10-day travel period

Quick question about the EU998 form for taking cats from US to UK.

I understand that once the health certificate has been issued, then it is valid for 10 days prior to the initial entry into the UK. At what point does the 10 day period begin? Does it start when my vet signs the paperwork or does it start once it has been endorsed by the USDA vet? I called DERFA and they said the 10 days begin once it has been endorsed by USDA and that I could theoretically obtain the EU998 from my vet at any point. I would just have to send it off to USDA to get stamped once I knew my exact travel date. I called the USDA office in New York (Albany) and they insisted that the 10 days start once the first vet signs the paperwork. Any clarification would be much appreciated!

I think you're getting the forms confused. I brought my dog in under the old rules, but I dont believe this part has changed - The APHIS 7001 (which is the "fit to fly" certificate that some airlines dont even need) has a 10 day stipulation, the EU/EC998 form can be stamped by the USDA up to four months before travel.  In my experience, the APHIS form does NOT need to be signed by the USDA official vet, only by a USDA-certified vet.

The APHIS 7001 (which is the "fit to fly" certificate that some airlines dont even need) has a 10 day stipulation, the EU/EC998 form can be stamped by the USDA up to four months before travel.

We just flew our dog here last week and they changed the EU/EC998 rules to only be valid for 10 days now.  Because we got our form signed on the 29th of Feb it was still good for 4 months but if we would have done on the 1st of March it would have only been good for 10 days.  The best people to contact would be animal reception since they are the ones actually seeing the paperwork.  I know I called and asked but can't remember what they said and don't want to give you the wrong info.  The one in Manchester are VERY friendly.  The few times I called DERFA they didn't seem to know the ins and outs as much.  Also, if you email your competed forms to animal reception they will check them over for you to be sure they are ok.

Sorry - ignore me!

My understand is there is the health certificate the AIRLINE wants you to have which must be signed by your normal vet 10 days (Delta told me this also must include your travel time and landing to the UK so in theory 9-8 days before travel) before you leave. The 3rd country certificate must be signed by the USDA vet 10 days before travel (again, probably 8-9 to account for travel time).

Yeah basically there is the "fit to fly" cert the airline wants and then the EU form that they only look at on the UK side.  Both are 10 days now but for the OP I'm not sure when the 10 days starts I would email animal reception to find out since they will be the ones actually looking at it.

Just got some new info for those interested.
10 day travel period begins once USDA stamps the 3rd country health certificate. However, the APHIS 7001 (fit to fly) certificate becomes valid once your vet signs it. I just overnighted both forms to my USDA vet ~8 days before travel. United/Continental airlines requires the APHIS 7001 to be endorsed by USDA.

Some other pointers: if microchipping and rabies vaccination were performed on the same day, you actually don't need a letter from the vet. Animal reception at Heathrow told me that as long as the microchip number is on the rabies certificate, then that can serve as proof that the microchipping was done before the rabies shot. I will post all my forms at some point once I make it.

I thought that was already common knowledge about the 10 day travel time?

That is good to know about the rabies certificate - won't be moving (now) until beginning of next year - hopefully they won't change anything! - but kitty is due for his rabies shot next month.