Document type: answer to question E-001976/2023 from the European Commission
Authors: question: Francisco Guerreiro (Greens/EFA). Answer: Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission
Question i : Cat and dog welfare - identification (microchipping) and registration
As many EU consumers purchase pet dogs and cats bred in another EU Member State, it is crucial that the animal’s origin be traceable.
This is essential not only to facilitate consumer protection and track the potential spread of disease, but also to allow cases of poor welfare to be investigated. To ensure traceability along the commercial chain, an electronic transponder (microchip) needs to be inserted and registered in a database before the first transfer of ownership.
Has the Commission assessed the feasibility of requiring microchip identification of dogs and cats bred in commercial breeding establishments and registration of the microchip number in an official database together with the owner’s details before leaving the breeding establishment?
Answer: Identification and registration of dogs and cats is an essential requirement in the EU legislation on animal health. This set of rules covers movements of dogs and cats kept by humans, within and into the EU, in order to prevent the risk of transmission of serious diseases such as rabies.
Whatever the purpose of the movement (i.e. for sale, including Internet sales, or transfer of the ownership of the animal, or for private reasons with the pet’s owner), such animals must meet a series of specific requirements, which already include a requirement to be individually marked with a transponder.
On the other hand, this legislation does not require to have in place a mandatory identification and registration system that includes all data related to dogs and cats to be entered in a database.
The recording of information related to dogs and cats can be envisaged if it pursues public and animal health protection objectives. In this context, developing an EU wide database which includes the owner’s details has so far not been considered as offering an added value to the traceability at the EU level.
However, databases have been developed at national level for the management of dog and cat populations on national territories and are an exclusive competence of the Member States.
In the context of the revision of the EU animal welfare legislation, the Commission is indeed assessing policy options which include mandatory identification and registration of cats and dogs born at commercial breeding establishments, before they leave their litter, as well as the requirement for the databases established and maintained by the Member States to comply with standards of inter-operability to allow accessibility of data throughout the EU.
