BRUSSELS - Today the Belgian Presidency has finalised Council talks on the proposed regulation on cats and dogs, but a key element to close the loopholes that allow for the illegal pet trade to continue has been left out.

While FOUR PAWS welcomes the progress made in several areas, such as database interoperability, breeder requirements and the online trade, the global animal welfare organisation warns that failure to apply Identification and Registration (I&R) rules for all cats and dogs will make the regulation devoid of its purpose.

The General Approach foresees I&R to be obligatory only for animals kept in establishments and for those placed on the market. Yet, I&R for all dogs and cats is the key to a safe and legal trade. It is the only way to address the main problem identified by the Commission and Member States in both EU Enforcement Actions on the Illegal Movement of Cats and Dogs in 2018 and 2023; private people keep unregistered animals, ostensibly as pets, and trade them, also cross border misusing the rules on non-commercial movement.  

ENDS 

Notes to editors 

Enforcement authorities have no tools to identify or track fraud in non-commercial movements of animals. With the current proposal, this won’t change. The EU Enforcement Action on the Illegal Trade of Cats and Dogs concludes that "Dedicated measures are necessary to help address the complexity of the illegal pet trade. To that end, it is essential that enforcement authorities operate within a streamlined and predictable regulatory framework, equipped with the necessary means, including technological, that would provide for cross-border access to reliable traceability information on individual animals, allowing them to perform their duties as efficiently as possible."