Imports & Customs — Denmark

Thirteen dog breeds may not be brought into Denmark, and a banned dog found in the country is destroyed by the police rather than simply turned back at the border. Lov om hunde (the Danish Dog Act) section 1 a prohibits possessing or breeding the pitbull terrier, tosa inu, American Staffordshire terrier, fila brasileiro, dogo argentino, American bulldog, boerboel, kangal, Central Asian ovtcharka, Caucasian ovtcharka, South Russian ovtcharka, tornjak and sarplaninac; section 1 a(2) extends the ban to any crossbreed involving one of them, and section 1 a(3) separately prohibits commercial import. Under section 1 b a dog kept or imported in breach of section 1 a is put down by the police, and where there is doubt about the breed the police may require the possessor to document it. A visitor has one narrow way out, also in section 1 b: the police may instead set a deadline for taking the dog out of Denmark, but only where the dog originates in a country other than Denmark, where it can reasonably be assumed the possessor did not know the dog was prohibited, and where the dog was not imported commercially - and the possessor pays the cost of removal. This is a national Danish breed ban that sits on top of the EU pet passport, microchip and rabies requirements and does not replace them.

Lov om hunde sets no fine for breaching section 1 a: section 12(1) lists the provisions punishable by fine and section 1 a is not among them. The sanction is destruction of the dog by the police under section 1 b, at the possessor's risk. Removal from Denmark instead of destruction is available only under the good-faith, non-commercial exception in section 1 b, and the costs of taking the dog out of the country are borne by the possessor.

Verified Oct 11, 2026