Review of professional certificate of knowledge concerning companion animals

In order to ensure the protection of companion animals, the regulations require that any person working with the latter as part of his or her professional activities should be in possession of a knowledge certificate on ‘domestic pet species’ (ACACED), awarded following successful completion of a national examination. The awarding of the certificate confirms the trainee’s knowledge of the biological, physiological and behavioural needs of companion animals, of their selection and care, and of the regulations that concern them. The examination is based on a bank of multiple-choice questions on 8 thematic areas of scientific, technical and regulatory knowledge.

In 2019, three years after the certificate came into force, it had become desirable to update and refresh the bank of written questions. Further, there was a need for the professional qualifications of the training bodies running the examination to be awarded or renewed on the basis of a scientific, technical and regulatory review of training content.

In this context, the FRCAW was asked to conduct a review. In particular, the FRCAW’s mission was to:

• assess the relevance of the content of the question bank in light of the new regulatory context and current state of scientific and technical knowledge,
• update the question bank (re-formulating and adding to questions and removing questions judged to be obsolete), and also propose new questions.