Singapore Government Logo A Singapore Government Agency Website
Share

General information & classification

  1. Home
  2. Pets
  3. Bringing Animals into Singapore & Exporting
  4. Animal Products
  5. General information & classification

General information and classification

Animal products are products that contain materials of animal origin.
 
You must fulfil our import requirements for these items before bringing them into Singapore. This includes obtaining the appropriate permits and documents. The permits and documents needed depends on the category of your product, and whether the animal species used in the product is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
 
To find out which animal species are listed by CITES, please refer to the CITES appendices. More information on CITES and endangered species is available here.

Animal product categories

Animal products are categorised as follows:
Category  Description Examples 
Finished animal products.

Products that do not contain materials of animal origin in raw or unprocessed form.

These products include hides, skins, bones, and hair that are finished, varnished, or treated.
  • Leather goods.
  • Tanned and finished skins or hides.
  • Taxidermized items or hunting trophies.
  • Instruments.
  • Carvings, paintings, and artwork.
Unfinished, inedible animal products. 
Products that contain materials of animal origin in raw, unprocessed forms.

 

These products are not meant for human consumption.
  • Ivory.
  • Skin.
  • Horn or bone.
  • Shell, scale, or teeth.
  • Gall bladder.
 Other animal products.

Products of animal origin such as blood products*, organs, tissues and cells.

These materials will be treated as biohazardous waste and must be disposed of appropriately. 
  • Serums, plasma, or albumin.
  • Raw organs and tissues.
  • Other animal products for research purposes.

*If you are bringing blood serum into Singapore for diagnostics purposes, please refer to the section on veterinary biologics instead.

Veterinary biologics refers to viruses, serums, toxins, and analogous products of natural or synthetic origin intended for use in the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of diseases of animals and birds, or for purposes of research in animals or birds.