Page 1 of 2 Amendment of Quarantine Requi rements for the Importation of Sheep and 
Goats 
 
(In case of any discrepancy between the English version and the Chinese text of these Requirements, 
the Chinese text shall govern.)  
Promulgated by Council of Agriculture on Novem ber 26, 1986  
First amendment by Council of Agriculture on June 9, 1993  
Second amendment by Council of Agriculture on December 5, 1994  
Third amendment by Council of Agriculture on September  28, 2011  
Fourth amendment by Council of Agriculture on  March 7, 2 014 
Fifth amendment by Council of Agriculture on June 20, 2014  
 
1. Sheep and goats shall be imported only from countries or zones recognized by the 
Council of Agriculture as free from foot and mouth disease  and rinderpest . 
 
2. The sheep and goats shall originate  from provinces ( states ) or equivalent 
administrative districts  where vesicular stomatitis has not occurred in the previous 
year.  
The farm of origin shall meet the following conditions : 
(1) For last seven years, t he sheep and goats shall originate from farms w here have 
been in compli ance with the requirements of scrapie free establishment s set 
forth in the Terrestrial Animal Health Code  of World Animal Health 
Organization (OIE) ; 
(2) The brucellosis, sheep pox, goat pox, mange, tuberculosis, paratuberculosis 
(Johne' s disease), bluetongue, Q fever  and hemorrhagic septicemia have not 
occurred  in the previous year; and   
(3) The contagious pustular dermatitis, enzootic abortion of sheep, melioidosis, 
Maedi -visna, pseudo -rinderpest, leptospirosis, sheep genital campylobacteri osis 
and Listeriosis have not occurred during the past 6 months.  
 
3. The sheep and goats shall be detained for pre -export quarantine for at least 14 
days prior to shipment in the approved isolated quarantine premises under the 
supervision of veterinarians of,  or veterinarians accredited by, the animal 
quarantine authority.  During the pre -export quarantine, the animals shall be 
inspected as free from clinical evidence of any communicable disease and subject 
to the following tests with negative results:  
(1) Foot an d mouth disease: serum neutralization test (virus neutralization, VN) or 
enzyme -linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or  complement fixation test 
(CFT).  
(2) Tuberculosis: intradermal tuberculin test.  The test shall be carried out within Page 2 of 2 60-90 days prior to shipm ent and the test interval between the said test and the 
previous one shall exceed 60 days.  
(3) Paratuberculosis (Johne's disease): ELISA or Delayed -type hypersensitivity test 
(DTH).  
(4) Bluetongue: CFT and agar -gel immunodiffusion test  or ELISA or polymerase 
chain  reaction (PCR) . 
(5) Brucellosis: ELISA or CFT or Buffered Brucella  antigen test (BBAT) or 
Fluorescence polarization  assay (FPA) . 
(6) Leptospirosis: agglutination -lysis test for Leptospira canicola , Leptospira 
Pomona , Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae  otherwise the s heep and goats should 
be injected with oxytetracycl ine (20 mg/kg) once within 14 days prior to 
shipment.  
(7) Vesicular stomatitis: VN or ELISA or CFT.  
(8) Other diseases and diagnostic tests provisionally designated.  
 
The diagnostic tests described above may be ex empted for the countries where, 
according to the report of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) or the 
relevant epidemiological information, have been free from the above diseases for 
more than 5 years.  
 
4. The sheep and goats shall not be vaccinate d against foot and mouth disease, 
rinderpest, or with any other vaccine that has not been approved  by the animal 
quarantine authority of this country.  
 
5. The sheep and goats shall be transported with clean container and vehicles 
disinfected with officially a pproved disinfectant. In addition, the sheep and goats 
shall not be transshipped through countries or zones where foot and mouth disease, 
rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia or African swine fever is known 
to occur.  No supplementary feed, fodder or beddings shall be supplied or other 
animals be loaded during the transportation.  
 
6. To import sheep and goats , an original veterinary certificate in English issued by 
the animal quarantine authorities of the exporting country should be provided.  
The cert ificate should include dates of quarantine detention, dates of sample 
collections, name of the test laboratory, methods and results of the tests, and the 
relevant information designated in Articles 2 to 4 of these Requirements.