France to Malaysia Pet Import: What You Need

Owners moving from Paris or Lyon usually assume the EU travels as one bloc. It does not. Malaysia grades origins one by one, and the grade decides whether your dog clears KLIA on arrival day or goes to a kennel.

This guide runs a French move in the order it happens, as we handle it at My Pet Mover under our pet import Malaysia service. Almost every French file now leaves through Paris, so picture that flight first.

Malaysia publishes two regulations for dogs and cats: one for scheduled origins, one for everything else. Both still carry a 2013 revision date, and the country list changed separately, at the back of the non-scheduled regulation PDF.

The notice reads as a European expansion, and France is not in it. Our guides to a Germany to Malaysia pet import and a Netherlands to Malaysia pet import show how differently two neighbouring EU files now run.

France is not excluded by a decision about France. It is excluded by omission.

This is the number owners want, and official sources state it differently.

Book and budget for fourteen days, then treat anything shorter as a refund. We unpack the conflict in our note on whether Malaysia’s pet quarantine is seven days or fourteen.

Either way the facility is the same: the animal quarantine station at KLIA. Our page on pet quarantine in Malaysia and the walkthrough of a KLAQS stay cover the kennel and visiting.

France eliminated fox rabies decades ago. ANSES records the last case in 1998 and confirms France meets the WOAH conditions for rabies-free status. On paper, stronger than several countries Malaysia already schedules.

It still does not move France onto the list. What it affects is clause 3.2, where the vet declares that no rabies case has been reported in the country for six months. That is where French files stall, because ANSES also records nine cases detected since 2001, almost all in animals illegally brought in from Africa.

An imported case is not endemic rabies and does not remove France’s status. But the declaration deserves a conversation with your DDPP, not an assumption. The regulation carries no titre clause either, despite what several online summaries say. France sits inside the EU laboratory network, so we still advise the test as insurance; our guide to rabies vaccination rules explains where it helps.

This is the most common reason a French file gets rejected at the border. Owners use their usual practice, get it signed, and assume that is the end of it.

France’s own system draws the line. Departmental services confirm that export certification runs through the DDETSPP, with third-country conditions held on Expadon. A private vet may prepare the document; an official vet endorses it. Malaysia wants these statements:

• Clinical health at certification. No signs of rabies or contagious disease.
• No rabies in the country for six months. The clause 3.2 declaration above.
• No re-import within six months. The animal was not itself imported into France.
• Rabies vaccination with an approved vaccine, recorded against the microchip.
• Core vaccines within twelve months before export.
• A second examination inside seven days of export, with no signs on shipment day.

Two of those are timing traps, not health questions. Both windows have to line up against a flight date not yet booked, and our guide to the veterinary health certificate Malaysia accepts shows how they overlap.

Malaysia’s two breed lists sit in the same regulation as the quarantine clause, and they do not map onto France’s catégorie 1 and 2 system.

• Belgian Shepherd, including Malinois. Restricted. Malaysia groups it with the German Shepherd, so a popular French working breed needs MAQIS approval, a pedigree certificate and a home inspection.
• Pit bull types. Banned. France also bars catégorie 1 dogs, so this rarely arises from a legal French household.
• Dogue de Bordeaux. Not on either list, despite the assumption. It travels on ordinary terms.
• Rottweiler, Dobermann, Bull Terrier, Bullmastiff. Restricted, same route.
• French Bulldog and other snub-nosed breeds. Legally fine, commercially difficult: several carriers refuse brachycephalic dogs in the hold.

The full picture is in our reference on banned and restricted dog breeds in Malaysia, and the airline side in flying snub-nosed breeds. Approval lands before the permit application, so a Malinois file starts weeks earlier than a Labrador nearby.

How to prepare a French pet for export to Malaysia

Every step has to happen before the next. Reversing two means starting again.

1. Microchip first. Fit an ISO 11784 and 11785 compliant chip before any rabies dose. France applies the same rule inbound, so most French pets comply. See our note on microchip rules for pets entering Malaysia.
2. Vaccinate against rabies. Record the product, batch and date against the chip number, and leave clear time before travel.
3. Bring core vaccines current. Inside twelve months before export, plus parasite treatment close to departure.
4. Arrange the titre test if you want the insurance. Blood drawn at least thirty days after vaccination, analysed by an EU-designated laboratory.
5. Apply for restricted-breed approval where it applies. Written MAQIS approval comes before the permit, home inspection included.
6. Book the official vet appointment last. Contact the DDPP with the permit in hand, and book the examination inside the seven-day window.

Before it reopened, almost every French pet connected through a Gulf or Asian hub, meaning a second country’s transit rules and a second handling agent. Business Traveller reported the Paris return on A350-900 aircraft. Three things decide whether a booking sticks:

• Crate size against the aircraft door. Large dogs get refused on dimensions more often than weight. Measure before you buy, using our IATA crate sizing guide.
• Heat embargoes at the Kuala Lumpur end. Ground temperature limits can pull a confirmed booking at short notice. See airline heat embargoes.
• Carrier acceptance for your breed. Snub-nosed policies vary sharply, so our list of airlines carrying pets to and from Malaysia is the fastest shortlist.

If no nonstop seat fits your window, an indirect routing still works with the transit country cleared first, which is why we plan French files against our wider international pet transport routes.

Owners often try this to save a fee, then find the route closed to individuals. Our explainer on why you cannot DIY a MAQIS permit sets out how authorisation works. Three constraints shape the filing date:

• The permit has a short validity window. File too early and it expires before the flight. See how long a MAQIS import permit lasts.
• Restricted breeds need approval first. That approval precedes the permit.
• The French certificate needs the permit. The DDPP appointment is scheduled against a permit that already exists.

Our step-by-step on applying for a MAQIS import permit from Japan shows the documents in full. A French file differs only in the classification and the certifying authority.

The ranges below are what we see on French files.

Freight is priced on the crate’s volume, so one size too large is the most expensive mistake in the file. Board doubles if the day count doubles. Our breakdowns of pet quarantine costs and MAQIS fees give the government side.

The long poles are not the flight or the vet, but two approvals that must land in order.

Weeks 7 and 8 carry two dependencies in a row. That compression is where most delays and most errors in our roundup of common pet import mistakes happen.

France ends up in an odd position. Its rabies record is strong, its laboratory network excellent, and its neighbours moved onto Malaysia’s lighter rulebook in December 2025. None of that changes the classification, because the classification is a list and France is not on it.

So the work sits in three places. Get MAQIS to state the quarantine days for your arrival date. Book the DDPP endorsement around an existing permit. Size the crate before anyone quotes freight.

1. Is France a scheduled country for Malaysia?

No. The Department of Veterinary Services notice dated 11 December 2025 names the scheduled countries, and France is not among them. Germany, Belgium, Austria, Luxembourg and Portugal were added, so several French neighbours now sit on the lighter rulebook while France stays non-scheduled by omission.

2. How many days quarantine will my pet do coming from France?

Sources conflict. The published non-scheduled regulation says not less than seven days, extendable to six months on risk assessment. A protocol reported from late December 2024 is described as applying at least fourteen days. Budget fourteen and ask MAQIS to confirm your arrival date in writing.

3. Can my own vet in France sign the health certificate?

Not on its own. Malaysia requires certification by a competent officer of the exporting country’s government veterinary authority, which in France means an official vet at the departmental DDPP or DDETSPP. A private practice may prepare the document, but an official vet must endorse it before export.

4. Can I bring a Malinois from France to Malaysia?

Yes, with written approval first. Malaysia treats the Belgian Shepherd, including the Malinois, as restricted alongside the German Shepherd. You need MAQIS approval before the import permit, a pedigree certificate, an ISO compliant microchip recorded on it, and an inspection of the Malaysian home.

5. Is there a direct flight for pets from Paris to Kuala Lumpur?

Yes. Malaysia Airlines returned to Paris Charles de Gaulle in March 2025 with flight MH22 on the A350-900, moving to daily service from 29 March 2025. That removes the transit country rules that used to complicate French pet moves, though acceptance still depends on crate size and breed.