23 April 09: AVA is responsible for safeguarding animal as well as public health in Singapore from the introduction of animal diseases. One very important animal disease is rabies. Rabies is a fatal disease in both animals and humans. Hence, AVA treats the prevention of rabies incursion into Singapore very seriously. The requirement to quarantine imported dogs and cats is part of our risk management approach for this disease. This risk management approach has kept Singapore free from rabies since 1953.
At the same time, we regularly review our risk management measures to keep in line with developments in science and technology. We are pleased to inform that AVA will be implementing a new set of import and quarantine requirements as part of our risk management approach to the importation of dogs and cats into Singapore. AVA has forwarded a notification on the new import and quarantine requirements to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for comments by exporting countries, in accordance with our WTO obligation. AVA targets to implement the new quarantine policy starting 1 January 2010. You may find more details at the following link: