The Pet Export Dossier: Complete Documentary Chain, Error Taxonomy and Reversibility

Section 1 The Documentary Chain: Architecture of Dependencies

1.1 The dossier is not a list: it is a chain

The export dossier of a companion animal is not a list of independent documents gathered in a folder. It is a chain in which each document has a dependency relationship with those that precede it and conditions those that follow.

The microchip must come before the rabies vaccine. The vaccine must come before the RNATT. The RNATT must exceed the threshold before certain deadlines begin to run. The health certificate must be issued within the destination's temporal window. The zoosanitary export certificate — in the case of Peru, the SENASA CZE — must verify that all previous links are in order before being issued. And the official endorsement, when required by the destination, is built on all of the above.

A failure in an early link is not just a problem with that document. It is a problem that propagates forward, invalidating every document built on the failed link. One does not work backwards from the travel date filling in documents, but forwards from the first clinical act, verifying that each step enables the next.

1.2 The complete dossier dependency map

The following table represents the documentary dependencies of a standard dossier for a destination requiring the full cycle. Not all destinations require all links — the EU does not require RNATT for animals with valid vaccination history from certain origins, the USA does not require quarantine for animals without high-risk classification — but the complete chain illustrates all possible dependencies:

Reading this table from bottom to top is the most efficient way to plan: start from Link 8 and verify what each step needs to be valid. Any requirement not met at a lower link makes validity of all superior links impossible.

Section 2 The Export Process from Peru: SENASA and the CZE

Special section — Peru

This section is dedicated to the pet export process from Peru under the regulations of the National Agrarian Health Service (SENASA). It is relevant for owners and veterinarians initiating the process in Lima, Trujillo, Arequipa, Piura, Cusco and any other region of the country. The SENASA procedure is the starting point for every pet export dossier from Peruvian territory.

2.1 SENASA as competent authority of origin

In the international health control system for companion animal movement, the authority of the country of origin has a specific and irreplaceable function: to certify that the animal has been prepared in accordance with the origin's health regulations and that the documentary dossier is coherent and complete. For animals departing from Peru, that authority is the National Agrarian Health Service — SENASA.

The Zoosanitary Export Certificate (CZE) issued by SENASA is the official Peruvian document that accredits the animal's health status before the destination authorities. It is not the only document in the dossier — the private veterinarian's health certificate, vaccination, RNATT when applicable, and destination-specific documents are added to the CZE — but it carries the signature of the Peruvian State and in many destination systems functions as the reference document for border control.

Processing can be initiated in person at SENASA offices in each region or, since 2026, via the national digital platform enabling document upload and fee payment prior to physical inspection.

2.2 Regulatory basis of the CZE

The Zoosanitary Export Certificate issuance procedure for pets in Peru is regulated by:

• Supreme Decree No. 051-2000-AG: Zoosanitary Regulation for Import and Export of Animals, Products and By-Products of Animal Origin.
• Legislative Decree No. 1059 — General Agrarian Health Law: SENASA competences.
• Supreme Decree No. 018-2008-AG: Regulation of the General Agrarian Health Law.
• Law No. 30407 — Animal Protection and Welfare Law: mandatory health duties, vaccination and registration.
• SENASA TUPA — Procedure CA07: specific process for zoosanitary export certificates for companion animals.

2.3 Mandatory sequence of the SENASA process

The CZE obtaining process follows a sequence with steps in a specific order that cannot be altered without compromising the validity of the final document. Verified in the SENASA Procedures Manual and TUPA CA07:

2.4 Peru-specific failure points

The most frequent failure points in pet export dossiers initiated from Peru:

• Vaccination before microchip: most serious sequence error and the only one completely irreversible in the short term. If the vaccine was administered before the chip, the entire process must restart. For an owner with a defined travel date, this can mean postponing the move by several months.
• Rabies vaccination with less than 30 days' advance: SENASA requires a minimum of 30 days between vaccination and travel for the first dose. A calendar built without verifying this period produces a dossier that SENASA cannot certify.
• Health Certificate outside validity window: the 10-day window of the CMVP certificate is the narrowest. Issuing it too early relative to the flight is the most frequent error in plans made in advance but without fine-tuning to the flight calendar.
• Non-matching microchip number: reading with incompatible reader or incorrect transcription in a previous document generates an inconsistency that halts the process until resolved.
• Ectoparasites at physical inspection: presence of ticks or other visible ectoparasites results in inspection rejection. The animal must receive treatment and the inspection must be rescheduled.

Section 3 Error Taxonomy: Reversibility and Temporal Cost

Classification of documentary errors by reversibility is the central analytical tool of this article. Not all errors have the same impact. Some can be corrected in hours; others require restarting the entire process, with a temporal cost measurable in months.

3.1 Class I — Administrative errors: correctable in hours or days

Registration or format errors that do not affect biological validity or the dossier's chronological sequence.

3.2 Class II — Deadline errors: correctable with weeks of delay

The documentary chain is correct in structure but a biological or regulatory deadline has not been met.

3.3 Class III — Sequence errors: require partial process restart

A clinical act was performed in the wrong order, invalidating all documents built on it.

3.4 Class IV — Irreversible errors: require authority decision

Situations in which the error cannot be corrected by any clinical or documentary act within the current process. They require destination authority intervention.

Section 4 Time as a Clinical Variable

The time between process start and travel date is not only the period during which documents accumulate. It is the period during which the animal lives with the uncertainty of the process: additional veterinary visits, sample collection, treatments, inspections. For animals sensitive to stress from handling or clinical environments, this period has a welfare cost that adds to that of the trip itself.

A well-constructed dossier from the outset — with the correct sequence, respected deadlines and updated verification of destination requirements — minimises that period. Not only because it reduces the risk of error but because it allows the animal to reach travel day having completed the process in the minimum necessary time, without avoidable iterations.

The veterinarian working in pet export from any point in Peru — from a clinic in Trujillo, from a practice in Miraflores or from an establishment in Arequipa — has the possibility to make that difference. Not only as a certificate issuer but as the professional who designs the correct sequence, anticipates deadlines and detects errors before they propagate forward in the chain.

Section 5 What This Series Has Built

The Zoovet Travel Technical Series began with the most basic foundation — the ISO microchip — and reached post-entry quarantine and documentary error taxonomy. Twelve articles covering the complete cycle of international movement of a companion animal.

No article in this series can replace direct verification with the competent health authority of the destination at the time of travel planning. What this series can do is provide the conceptual framework that turns that verification into an informed action. A veterinarian who understands why the 21-day waiting period exists, why the microchip must precede the vaccine, and why the CDC high-risk country list is dynamic does not need to memorise lists: they need to know where to verify and what to ask.

Section 6 Limitations of the Series and of This Article

1. Permanent regulatory variability: regulations in all covered destinations are subject to change without notice.
2. Absence of coverage of all destinations: the series has covered the EU, UK, Australia, New Zealand and USA. Dozens of other destinations have their own frameworks not analysed.
3. The error taxonomy is conceptual, not statistical: the classification into Classes I to IV is based on the described dependency logic, not on epidemiological data on error frequency in real dossiers.
4. SENASA: legislation verified as of February 2026. Costs, deadlines and procedures may be modified. Verification at gob.pe/senasa is mandatory before initiating any process.