On Wednesday 26 June, the Member States’ ambassadors to the European Union (Coreper) gave their assent to the EU Council’s negotiating mandate on a proposal to improve the welfare of cats and dogs by establishing minimum rules at EU level for the first time.
The proposal aims to improve the welfare of cats and dogs kept by breeders, selling establishments and shelters, while improving consumer protection, ensuring fair competition and combating illegal trade. The proposal has no impact on pet owners. However, anyone wishing to place a cat or dog on the EU market must ensure that it is microchipped for traceability purposes (see EUROPE 13439/19).
The EU Council’s position confirms certain principles of the proposal: breeding is regulated, with limits on frequency and minimum and maximum ages; certain breeding practices are prohibited, such as inbreeding (although the EU Council’s position specifies that inbreeding may nevertheless be used to preserve local breeds with a limited genetic pool); painful mutilations such as ear cropping, tail docking or claw removal are prohibited, unless there is a medical indication for them; dogs must have daily access to an outdoor area or must be walked daily (dogs aged over 12 weeks).
In addition, all cats and dogs must be microchipped and registered on a national database before being sold or given away.
The EU Council’s negotiating mandate makes a number of improvements to the proposal:
- it specifies that operators must not abandon cats or dogs;
- it prohibits the breeding of hybrids (the result of cross-breeding with a wild species);
- cats and bitches that have undergone two caesarean sections will not be used for breeding, in order to protect their health and well-being;
- cats and dogs with extreme characteristics should be excluded from breeding, to avoid passing these characteristics on to future generations if there is a high risk of adverse effects on their welfare or that of their offspring;
- cats and dogs with extreme conformation traits or mutilations will be excluded from participation in competitions, shows or exhibitions.
As some organisations, such as NGOs, use foster homes to house abandoned, stray or unwanted cats and dogs, the EU Council has decided to include foster homes within the scope of the regulation.
The EU Council mandate distinguishes between imports for placing on the EU market and non-commercial movement. In the first case, the cat or dog will have to be registered in an EU database five working days after entering the EU. For the second, a database of travellers carrying pets will be set up to detect suspicious movement.
EU Council/European Parliament negotiations will begin as soon as the Parliament has decided its position. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)