Federal Law No. (6) of 2025 Regarding Veterinary Quarantine replaces the UAE's 45-year-old 1979 quarantine statute with a modernised framework aligned to World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) standards. Administered by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, it governs every animal consignment imported into, exported from or transiting the UAE — live animals, animal products, by-products, feed and waste — and tightens the permit, health-certificate and entry-point controls that trade and logistics operators must meet.
Who should read this
Importers, exporters and traders of live animals, animal products, feed and by-products; airlines, shipping lines and freight forwarders handling such consignments; veterinary clinics and animal-facility operators; and any business whose supply chain crosses a UAE border entry point with animal-origin goods.
Directly affected
Key facts
- Instrument: Federal Law No. (6) of 2025 Regarding Veterinary Quarantine.
- Issued: 26 December 2025; entered into force the day following its publication in the Official Gazette.
- Repeals: Federal Law No. (6) of 1979 Regarding Veterinary Quarantine, which had been in force for 45 years.
- Transitional rule: regulations and resolutions issued under the 1979 law remain in force until replacement implementing instruments are issued, to the extent they do not conflict with the new law.
- Competent authority: the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE).
- Scope: all animal consignments entering, leaving or transiting the UAE — live animals, animal products, by-products, feed and waste.
- Core controls: permits and veterinary health certificates from the Ministry; entry only through Ministry-designated border entry points; and precautionary powers (import bans, temporary quarantine) triggered by scientific indicators or international disease alerts.
Executive summary
Federal Law No. (6) of 2025 modernises the legal backbone of the UAE's biosecurity regime for animal trade. The 1979 law it replaces predated the current structure of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the growth of the UAE as a re-export and transit hub, and the international coordination that now governs transboundary animal disease. The new law brings the framework into line with those standards and gives MOCCAE a clearer, broader toolkit to keep infectious animal disease out of the country.
For businesses, the practical centre of gravity is unchanged in principle but tighter in execution: animal consignments require the correct permits and veterinary health certificates, may only move through designated entry points, and remain subject to inspection, quarantine and — where necessary — seizure and disposal. What has changed is the precision of the definitions, the breadth of the Ministry's precautionary powers, and the expectation that documentation and origin controls track international norms.
What changed
Expanded and modernised definitions. The law introduces or refines defined terms including "veterinary quarantine procedures," "veterinary health certificate," "animal waste," "animal feed" and "border entry point." This matters because the reach of every operative obligation follows the definitions — feed and waste, for example, are squarely within scope, not adjacent to it.
An integrated quarantine system. Rather than treating quarantine as a single step, the law frames a connected sequence: prevention, assessment, prohibition, inspection, quarantine, and disposal of infected consignments. Each stage carries its own procedural obligations and points of Ministry decision-making.
Designated border entry points. Animal consignments may enter only through entry points the Ministry designates. Routing a shipment through a non-designated point is not a documentation defect to be cured later — it is a gate that must be cleared before arrival.
Precautionary powers aligned to WOAH. The Ministry may impose import bans and temporary quarantine restrictions based on scientific indicators or international alerts about transboundary animal diseases, including emerging diseases and those listed by WOAH. These measures can be country- or region-specific and can change at short notice.
Practical implications
Documentation is the primary compliance surface. The permit and veterinary health certificate are the instruments on which lawful movement depends. Certificates issued by an origin authority must satisfy the UAE's requirements as to form, content and the disease attestations they carry; a certificate that is valid at origin is not automatically sufficient here.
Origin risk is now a live variable. Because import bans can follow international alerts, sourcing decisions carry regulatory as well as commercial risk. A consignment lawful when ordered can become prohibited in transit if the country of origin is added to a restriction. Contracts should allocate that risk explicitly.
Carriers and logistics operators are exposed. Airlines, shipping lines and freight forwarders that move non-compliant animal consignments — or route them to a non-designated entry point — face operational disruption, quarantine holds and potential liability, independent of the underlying importer's position.
Seizure and disposal are real outcomes. Where the integrated system leads to a finding of infection or non-compliance, the consignment can be quarantined, refused entry, or disposed of. The commercial loss can substantially exceed the value of the goods once demurrage, storage and re-export costs are counted.
Action points
- Map every animal-origin product line — including feed, by-products and waste — against the new definitions to confirm what now falls within scope.
- Confirm your current permits and veterinary health certificate templates meet the new requirements, and diarise renewals against the Ministry's implementing instruments as they are issued.
- Verify that all inbound routing uses Ministry-designated border entry points and update forwarder instructions accordingly.
- Build a monitoring routine for Ministry import bans and WOAH alerts affecting your source countries, and pre-agree contractual remedies for consignments caught by a mid-transit restriction.
- Review indemnity, force majeure and title-transfer clauses with counterparties and carriers so quarantine, seizure and disposal risk is clearly allocated.
Amends / replaces: Repeals Federal Law No. (6) of 1979 Regarding Veterinary Quarantine.
Directly affected: importers, exporters, animal owners, veterinary clinics, airlines, shipping companies and freight forwarders handling animal consignments.
Enforcement, disputes and transition
Until MOCCAE issues new implementing regulations, the 1979-era resolutions continue to apply insofar as they do not conflict with the 2025 law — a transitional overlap that can create genuine ambiguity on the ground. If a consignment is held, refused or ordered for disposal, the decision, its legal basis and the applicable appeal route should be established immediately, because timelines for challenging administrative measures are short and the commercial cost of delay compounds daily. Where the enacted Arabic text and any English summary differ, the Arabic text prevails.
Sources and authorities
Federal Law No. (6) of 2025 Regarding Veterinary Quarantine — repealing Federal Law No. (6) of 1979 Regarding Veterinary Quarantine.
UAE Legislation Portal (Ministry of Justice):
https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/4000
Competent authority: Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE). Original-source date: 26 December 2025.
Instrument details
Title: Federal Law No. (6) of 2025 Regarding Veterinary Quarantine.
Issued: 26 December 2025. In force: the day following publication in the Official Gazette.
Repeals: Federal Law No. (6) of 1979 Regarding Veterinary Quarantine.
Transitional provision: implementing regulations and resolutions made under the 1979 law remain in effect until replaced, so far as they do not conflict with the 2025 law.
Competent authority: Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE).
Note: this is a summary for general orientation. The enacted Arabic text is authoritative and prevails over any English rendering.
Based on Federal Law No. (6) of 2025 Regarding Veterinary Quarantine and cross-checked against leading practitioner analyses. General information only — it does not constitute legal advice, and the enacted Arabic text prevails. For advice on a specific matter, please contact us. Last updated: 2 July 2026.