Accuracy & compliance
AHC errors and the common rejection reasons AHC Companion watches for
A precise list of what AHC Companion checks before you sign, and an honest list of what it does not claim to do.
No subscription. No credit card. No 30-minute sales call.
Microchip date errors
The single biggest source of rejection: the order of microchip implantation, microchip read, and rabies vaccination.
There are two failure modes that AHC Companion flags:
- The microchip is recorded as read after the rabies vaccination date. Even if the chip was actually implanted earlier, the certificate fails because the documented read cannot prove identity at the moment of vaccination.
- The rabies vaccine is recorded as administered before the animal was identified by microchip. This invalidates the vaccination for travel purposes.
AHC Companion checks the dates in your draft and stops you signing a certificate where either of these would apply.
Rabies vaccination date validity
The 21-day wait, day-0 counting, and manufacturer onset-of-immunity caveat.
The rules are familiar but easy to miscount under time pressure:
- Day 0 is the day of vaccination. Travel cannot occur until at least 21 days have passed.
- For booster vaccinations given inside the manufacturer’s duration of immunity, no wait applies — but the booster date and the previous valid date must both reconcile.
- A primary vaccination administered after a lapse counts as a new primary, with the 21-day wait reset.
AHC Companion compares travel dates against the rabies record and flags any combination that would not be valid on the day of issue.
Bilingual deletions and formatting
The destination-language column, strikethroughs, deletions, and page numbering.
The Annex IV form is a bilingual document. AHC Companion handles the formatting that gets missed when the form is filled by hand:
- Destination-language text is generated alongside English.
- Strikethroughs and deletions are applied to the boxes that do not apply to the species or journey.
- Pages are numbered across all sheets, including the annexes.
- The OV’s APHA-issued UCN is placed in the correct field and matched against your loaded batches.
Missed boxes
The fields that are easy to skip on a 10-page form and that cause delays at the border.
AHC Companion prompts for the sections that are commonly left blank or partially completed, including:
- Tapeworm treatment details for dogs travelling to listed countries.
- Owner signature and contact fields.
- OV details including SP number and stamp.
- Each animal’s identifying description.
These prompts run before generation, so the corrections happen once, not after you have already signed.
What AHC Companion does not claim
A short and deliberate list.
- AHC Companion is not APHA-approved or Defra-approved. APHA authorises OVs to issue certificates and allocates certificate numbers; AHC Companion is software you use to fill them in.
- AHC Companion does not guarantee border acceptance. Border officers make their own decisions on the day, and rules can change.
- AHC Companion does not eliminate rejection risk. It surfaces the most common reasons before you sign; it does not promise to catch every possible error.
Certifying responsibility stays with the OV
The legal position is unchanged.
APHA authorises the OV and issues certificate numbers. The OV signs the AHC on their own SP number and remains the certifying party. AHC Companion is a productivity aid that helps the OV complete the certificate accurately and quickly.
Try the checks on a real AHC
Your first three certificates are free.
First 3 AHCs free. No subscription. No credit card.