Toelichting bij COM(2023)769 - Welzijn van honden en katten en hun traceerbaarheid - Hoofdinhoud
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| dossier | COM(2023)769 - Welzijn van honden en katten en hun traceerbaarheid. |
|---|---|
| bron | COM(2023)769  |
| datum | 07-12-2023 |
•Reasons for and objectives of the proposal
According to a Eurobarometer conducted in 2023 1 , 44% of Union citizens own companion animals and 74% of Union citizens consider that the welfare of companion animals should be better protected than it is now. 6 out of the 10 European Citizens’ Initiatives which have been successful so far relate to animal welfare, reflecting the importance that citizens attach to better protect animals in general.
In 2021, it was estimated that EU citizens owned 72,7 million dogs and 83,6 million cats 2 . There is a substantial trade in dogs and cats 3 , through breeding establishments selling puppies and kittens and other establishments, in particular pet shops which sell dogs and cats of all ages. Animal shelters also supply dogs and cats, either by selling, giving in adoption, or re-homing rescued, stray or unwanted dogs and cats. Although part of the demand for dogs and cats is met by licensed breeders that abide by high standard of animal welfare, many dogs and cats have been the subject of illegal trade and transportation, including from third countries.
Evidence of an important volume of document forgeries, misleading information, and indications of disguised movement of dogs for commercial purposes as non-commercial movements to take advantage from less stringent control rules, was collected at the occasion of the EU Coordinated Action on the illegal trade 4 of cats and dogs carried out in 2022 and 2023 5 . During the EU enforcement action, 467 notifications were generated by Member States in iRASFF to seek assistance in cases involving suspicions of fraudulent activities. This EU Coordinated Action enabled the identification of clusters of cases where operators were suspected of engaging in fraudulent activities and at least 47 judicial proceedings have been initiated in several EU Member States during the period of the EU coordinated action. 45% of the notifications in iRASFF concerned suspicion of fraudulent activities in movement of dogs from third countries. The coordinated action allowed to detect forged health certificates and rabies antibody titration reports, falsified pet passports, illegal traffic of dogs and cats from Russia and Belarus.
Such sub-standard breeding and illegal trade results in important problems for the welfare, including the health, for the dogs and cats concerned, and the well-being of the prospective pet owner. This can be illustrated by problems notified in a number of iRASFF notifications: notification of sick puppies, with puppies not arriving at destination as they had to be euthanised due to parvovirus, of dogs tested positive for Brucella Canis, of cases of dogs with extreme stress, of dogs with diarrhoea, respiratory infections, dehydration, cases of neglected care. Some other iRASFF notifications mention investigations due to animal cruelty. Others mentioned cases of mutilations, such as ear cropping and tail docking of puppies.
Additionally, in recent years, the sale of dogs and cats is increasingly growing through online platforms and social media. Many of these platform’s listings offer animals that are not from responsible breeders but from suspected illegal breeders or pet shops or are kept in conditions detrimental to their welfare. The possibility for Member States to trace back the origin of dogs and cats is often limited because the system of identification of those animals only applies when animals are being moved between Member States or beyond, and in addition, there is no unified system of registration.
In 2020, the European Parliament adopted a resolution 6 on the illegal trade in companion animals in the EU calling for a harmonised, EU-wide system of mandatory identification and registration of cats and dogs to fight illegal trade. It also asked that companion animals be microchipped by a veterinarian and recorded in a national database, and that the protection of consumers buying companion animals via online listings be improved.
In 2010, the Council called upon the Commission “to study the differences between the measures taken by the Member States regarding the breeding of and EU trade in dogs and cats and, if appropriate, to prepare policy options for the harmonisation of the internal market” 7 . Following this, the Commission published a study 8 which identified divergent national laws on the breeding of dogs and cats in the Union, and a lack of systematic identification, registration and control of the movement of dogs and cats in the Union. It also identified welfare problems arising from the housing conditions both in breeding establishments and sale sites 9 . In 2022, in the Council, 20 Member States 10 called on the Commission to introduce common EU legislation for the commercial keeping and sale of dogs, including harmonised traceability rules 11 .
Many Member States have also committed to protect the welfare of cats and dogs as signatories to the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals 12 .
There is no EU legislation on the welfare of dogs and cats. There is EU legislation on the protection of dogs and cats when they are bred, supplied and used for scientific purposes 13 . There are also some specific EU requirements for the transport of dogs and cats 14 , imposing a minimum age for their transport 15 . EU legislation also covers the movements of dogs and cats in the context of animal diseases, most notably rabies, either when they are subject to these animal health requirements in the context of movement, between Member States and from third countries 16 , or when they are moved in a so-called “non-commercial” movement when they are accompanying their owners 17 .
There are no specific EU obligations related to sales of dogs and cats via online platforms, however the horizontal provisions of the Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (“the Digital Service Act”) 18 apply. The Digital Service Act regulates the responsibilities of providers of intermediary services online, including online platforms such as social media and online marketplaces, with regard to illegal content and goods or services offered by the recipient of their services. The Digital Service Act sets out, in particular, a number of due diligence obligations for online platforms relevant for the proposed Regulation, including the introduction of the “traceability of traders” principle, and the obligation for online marketplaces to adapt their online interface to enable traders to comply with applicable Union law. Moreover, the Digital Service Act covers all types of illegal content, as defined by national or EU law, and therefore any content that would be considered illegal under a national or Union legislation will be considered illegal under this Regulation, and its obligations will apply.
The trade in dogs and cats is very lucrative, with the estimated annual value of dogs and cats’ sales in the EU amounting to EUR 1.3 billion 19 , and therefore attractive to operators willing to engage in unfair or even unlawful business practices. Some establishments are keeping dogs or cats under poor welfare conditions, exhausting females to have many litters per year, neglecting animals on their food, housing, health and hygiene conditions and selling them too young (because it is easier to sell and cheaper to produce). Consequently, many animals present physical defects or are sick, and not treated against parasites. These animals also often present behavioural disorders due to early weaning or mistreatments. They may also be falsely identified in order to prevent tracing back their origin.
This situation also generates unexpected and unfair costs for buyers. They have to pay to treat some diseases or mitigate genetic defects. It provokes also emotional distress for buyers when they discover that their animals can no longer be treated. Buyers may also face dogs or cats with serious behavioural problems that make them difficult to keep in the family. In both cases, buyers may have to end up requiring euthanasia. Moreover, this situation generates serious animal suffering because animals are misfed, kept under uncomfortable and unhealthy conditions, sometimes subject to mistreatment due to lack of knowledge of animal caretakers.
There are also wide differences between the legislation of different Member States, such as on rules regarding the threshold between professional and non-professional breeders, minimum and maximum age of breeding, and identification and registration of dogs and cats, and also linked to the difficulties to implement national rules in an internal market where animals circulate freely. These disparities, which are likely to increase as national provisions are being revised and reinforced in some Member States at an accelerated pace due to public pressure, while other Member States have very limited legal provisions in the area, are likely to create barriers to trade in cats and dogs. This will be to the detriment of high standard commercial breeders and will prevent them from drawing a benefit from investments in improving the welfare of cats and dogs.
Each year, high numbers of cats and dogs are admitted to shelters across the EU, either governmental or owned by non-profit organisations 20 . For instance, in Belgium 7 642 dogs and 25 926 cats were admitted in 2021 21 , while Spanish yearly numbers are even higher, estimated at an annual 100 000 dogs and 30 000 cats 22 . The above-mentioned EU coordinated action on dogs and cats reported suspicions of illegal trafficking of dogs through some of these shelters, with shelters advertising imported dogs online for sale, without the necessary permits, and with incorrect data in the health certificates of passports.
It is necessary to include animal shelters in the scope of this Regulation, even if their activity is carried out in a different environment from commercial breeders, and to apply certain requirements, regardless of whether or not they conduct an economic activity when they give in adoption or re-home cats and dogs, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the rules and their enforceability, in particular to prevent that the market is distorted by practices that may constitute unfair competition or mislead consumers, and to prevent illegal trade in cats and dogs.
This proposal aims to address these issues by proposing a common framework with the following objectives:
–Ensuring minimum common animal welfare standards for the breeding, keeping and placing on the market of dogs and cats bred or kept in establishments,
–Improving the traceability of dogs and cats placed on the Union market or supplied, including when offered for sale or adoption online,
–Ensuring a level playing field between operators keeping and placing on the market dogs and cats across the Union
–Promoting competence for animal caretakers,
–Supplementing existing rules for the import of dogs and cats.
•Consistency with existing policy provisions in the policy area
This proposal is consistent with the current EU legislation on animal transport and on transmissible animal diseases. It is also consistent with the legislative proposal to revise the Regulation on the protection of animals during transport, adopted on the same date as this proposal.
The requirement for approval of breeding establishments included in this proposal builds on the existing requirement for registering establishments under the Animal Health Law 23 . Member States will be able to rely on the list of establishments registered under the Animal Health Law to identify those which need to be inspected and approved under this proposal.
Similarly, the traceability requirements of this proposal build on the requirements for the identification of dogs and cats subjected to cross-border movements set out in the Animal Health Law by expanding the identification requirement to all dogs and cats placed on the market or supplied in the Union, and adding a requirement for the registration of those dogs and cats in national databases.
The Animal Health Law and the Union rules on the non-commercial movement of pet animals 24 include certain requirements concerning the entry into the Union of dogs and cats. In particular, as a regular rule for the movement into the Union, dogs and cats must come from a third country listed by the Union based on animal health guarantees, and the establishment of origin in the third country must be registered. This proposal builds on these requirements, by requiring that the third countries also provide guarantees on their controls for the animal welfare rules on establishments laid down in this proposal, and by requiring that the breeding establishments are not only registered but also approved. Concerning traceability, animal health rules require that, both for commercial and non-commercial movement of dogs and cats entering into the Union, the animals must be identified with a microchip. To reinforce these traceability provisions, this proposal requires that, for dogs and cats entering into the Union the owner at the place of destination ensures their registration into one of the Member States’ databases. This will provide more tools for controls on those animals.
•Consistency with other Union policies
This proposal is consistent with the Union policy on a single market for digital services. For instance, the provisions regarding online services have been drafted in a way that makes them compatible with the Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065).
This proposal maintains intact the exemption of liability that applies to online platforms under the conditions set out under Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065. Furthermore, it does not impose any general obligation to monitor the information stored, nor actively to seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity, as prohibited under Article 8 of the same Regulation. Finally, its obligations complement, but do not replace nor contradict the obligations imposed under the Digital Services Act to online platforms, including those allowing consumers to conclude distance contracts with traders. The Digital Services Act imposes a common set of responsibilities on online businesses providing services in the EU, including on online platforms intermediating the sale of products and services. The Digital Services Act establishes ‘compliance by design’ obligations that require platforms to design and organise their online interfaces in a way that enables certain information to be displayed (but only as regards service providers that qualify as ‘traders’) and illegal listings to be taken down.
Inhoudsopgave
- 2.LEGAL BASIS, SUBSIDIARITY AND PROPORTIONALITY
- 3.RESULTS OF EX-POST EVALUATIONS, STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATIONS AND IMPACT ASSESSMENTS
- Housing requirements
- Requirements for breeding
- Approval of breeding establishments
- Identification and registration of dogs and cats and national databases
- On-line sales
- Entry into the Union
- 4.BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS
- 5.OTHER ELEMENTS
- Chapter I - Subject matter, scope and definitions
- Chapter III- Identification and registration of dogs and cats
- Chapter IV - Competent authorities
- Chapter VI - Procedural provisions
- Chapter VII - Other provisions
•Legal basis
The legal bases of the proposal are Article 43(2) and Article 114 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union, since this proposal concerns the breeding, keeping and trade in dogs and cats, which are live animals covered by Annex I to the Treaty, and its objective is to ensure a smooth functioning of the internal market for dogs and cats, for which common animal welfare requirements are lacking, avoid distortions and barriers to trade in those animals due to diverging national rules on animal welfare, while ensuring a high level of animal welfare and a high level of consumer protection, including from illegal trade.
•Subsidiarity (for non-exclusive competence)
The objective of this proposal is to regulate the trade in dogs and cats in the internal market, including imports from third countries, to ensure the rational development of the sector and avoid barriers to trade and combat illegal trade in cats and dogs while ensuring a high level of protection of animal welfare. These objectives cannot be achieved by Member States acting on their own and need to be addressed by the Union. Action solely by Member States would risk causing a further fragmentation of the internal market. Such differences in the level of protection of animal welfare are likely to persist and be exacerbated in response to citizen’s demands, therefore leading to a partitioning of the internal market in cats and dogs.
For example, the prohibition of a certain type of painful practices (ear cropping, tail docking) in some Member States but not in others acts to the detriment of traders who maintain high levels of animal welfare as they cannot draw a benefit from their investments in high welfare standards when they trade cross-border. This may lead to the relocation of production to Member States where no such prohibition applies.
The activity of animal shelters is often carried out cross-border, given the accessibility of online services to advertise the transfer of animals in those situations. Some animal shelters may also be offering cats and dogs for sale. Given that shelters supply numbers of animals to the market that can be considered substantial, there is a need to include them in the scope of this Regulation, regardless of whether the activity carried out can be considered an economic activity, because at least the reasonable costs are reimbursed. Therefore, animal shelters should be included in the scope and subject to some of the requirements of this Regulation, concerning the five domains of animal welfare, the competence of animal caretakers, visits by veterinarians, and identification and registration of animals.
Traceability of dogs and cats is essential to fight illegal trade in these animals. It is difficult at present to ensure traceability of dogs and cats supplied on the Union market. As dogs and cats can be traded across borders within the Union and existing national databases are not interoperable, initiatives taken at national level by individual Member States cannot address the existing gaps and Union level intervention is necessary. In order to be effective, the traceability provisions should apply to all dogs supplied in the Union, whatever the intended purpose.
•Proportionality
This proposal lays down minimum animal welfare requirements for the breeding, keeping and placing on the Union market of dogs and cats. These rules are essential to protect the functioning of the internal market, and do not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose.
In particular, to ensure proportionality, the provisions of this proposal on the breeding and keeping in establishments do not apply to very small establishments. Breeders of less than a certain number of litters per year are not subjected to rules on how the dogs and cats must be bred and kept, and are only required to identify and register the dogs or cats before placing them in the Union. A similar approach is taken for shelters and pet shops keeping a small number of dogs or cats, which are only required to identify and register the dogs or cats before supplying them in the Union. Given that shelters generally do not operate for profits, a number of the provisions required for breeding establishments and pet shops are not required for shelters – for example the detailed requirements on housing (temperature, space allowance, lighting) – in order to ensure proportionality of Union rules for shelters.
Furthermore, while natural and legal persons supplying dogs or cats in the Union are required to ensure that the animals are microchipped and are registered, this is necessary to ensure the effectiveness of this Regulation in achieving its objectives, in particular to combat illegal trade, and is proportionate given the limited impact of this requirement on natural persons supplying dogs or cats on the Union market (see section “impact assessment” below). The proposal does not impose such obligation for natural persons supplying dogs or cats occasionally on the Union market other than through online services.
This proposal allows Member States to maintain or adopt stricter national rules on housing conditions, mutilations, enrichment, selection and breeding programmes as long as they do not prohibit or impede the placing on the market within their territory of dogs and cats kept in another Member State on the grounds that the dogs and cats concerned have not been kept in accordance with those stricter national rules.
•Choice of the instrument
Proposed instrument: Regulation.
Regulating the breeding, keeping, and placing on the market of dogs and cats, as well as the traceability of dogs and cats placed on the market and supplied, requires technical operations and rules which should be precise to ensure a proper level playing field of operators within the internal market. The required level of precision and harmonisation can be better achieved in a directly binding Regulation, rather than by the use of Directives.
•Ex-post evaluations/fitness checks of existing legislation
Not applicable since there is presently no existing legislation on the welfare of dogs and cats.
Nevertheless, the Fitness Check on the EU animal welfare legislation discusses this gap in the existing legislation in relation to the protection of dogs and cats placed on the Union market. In the Public Consultation performed in support of the Fitness Check, a vast majority of the respondents considered that species-specific animal welfare requirements are missing for cats (79%, 47 064 of 59 286) and dogs (80%, 47 272 of 59 286). This was also reflected in stakeholder interviews. For instance, one professional organisation (representing veterinarians) expressed that companion animals are extremely important for consumers, and that there are a lot of welfare problems with those animals.
•Stakeholder consultations
Stakeholders’ consultations took place through the activities of the voluntary initiative on the welfare of dogs and cats 25 as well as a series of bilateral meetings with organisations of dog breeders, pet food industry, online services, pharmaceutical industry and animal welfare organisations.
Stakeholders agreed on the problems identified (absence of level playing field, fraudulent practices detrimental for consumers as well as animals, the role of the online services and social media) and on the need for the EU to establish a set of common rules to regulate this market. In particular, online platforms supported a harmonised regime for pet animals at EU level, and considered this should be an opportunity to improve the trust and reliability of online sales channels.
•Collection and use of expertise
The European Food Safety Authority adopted a scientific and technical assistance report on welfare aspects related to breeding, feeding, housing and health of cats and dogs in breeding establishments 26 . The EFSA report contains recommendations on the type of housing and exercise, on housing temperature and light, on health and painful surgical interventions.
The Commission also took into consideration the conclusions of the EU Animal Welfare Platform voluntary initiatives on the welfare of pets (dogs and cats) in trade which contains a series of guidelines on responsible dog breeding, cat breeding, commercial movements of dogs and cats, socialisation of puppies and kittens, online platforms selling of dogs and guidelines for buyers of dogs. Both the EFSA opinion and the conclusion of the EU animal welfare platform are publicly available on the Internet. It also took into account the two reports produced for that purpose by that voluntary initiative: a report on recommendations on possible elements for EU legislation on marketing and sales of dogs and cats 27 and a report on recommendations on possible elements for EU legislation on breeding of dogs and cats 28 .
•Impact assessment
The analysis and all supporting evidence will be set out in a Commission Staff Working Document published at the latest within three months of the publication of the proposal.
Available Evidence of impacts can be summarised as follows:
The proposal is estimated to apply to around between 24 000 and 30 000 commercial dog breeders, and between 8 000 and 10 000 commercial cat breeders 29 of which 20% are commercial pedigree breeders 30 . It is estimated that about 4.4 million puppies and 1 million kittens of the yearly EU production of dogs and cats are produced by commercial non-pedigree breeders (corresponding to about 50% of the dogs and cats born and bred in the EU every year).
The welfare of dogs and cats bred in the EU would be improved with the new requirements by providing more freedom of movement in an environment without cages, with thermal comfort zones where they can meet their physiological needs, as well as with more space for activity and complex environment thanks to outdoor/indoor access 31 .
Commercial breeders of pedigree dogs and cats are not expected to bear any additional costs since they usually already respect equal or stricter welfare requirements as those imposed by the pedigree organisations of which they are members 32 .
The causes of dog and cat intake in shelters vary but include strays and abandoned animals, owner surrenders, returned adoptions and shelter born kittens and puppies 33 . The number of strays and animals in shelters is especially high in Southern and Eastern European countries 34 . European provisions on animal shelters are currently lacking, and despite many Member States having certain national measures in place, animal welfare conditions in many European shelters are alarming 35 . Especially overcrowding in shelters forms a large risk for poor animal welfare conditions 36 .
Introducing a minimum age for breeding for bitches and queens, a restriction on the reproductive rhythm and a requirement to monitor the health and welfare of bitches and queens over a certain age, would allow to respect the physical and physiological maturity of the animals, thereby improving their welfare 37 , 38 . Some EU Member States already have a legal framework that sets a minimum/maximum age of breeding. Others have no such requirements at all 39 . The proposal would therefore contribute to a more level playing field for all types of breeders. Disruptions in the production cycles will be avoided by an appropriate transition period that ensures operators have time to adapt to the new rules and thus avoid disruptions in the supply of dogs and cats to consumers.
Breeding establishments must already be registered, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/429 (“Animal Health Law”) 40 . However, registration is done without an inspection by the competent authority to verify that the establishment complies with animal welfare rules. Additionally, certain Member States (such as Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Portugal) regulate breeding establishments in their national legislation. Some Member States approve breeding establishments based on animal welfare criteria, but not all Member States, and those having such requirements use different thresholds to consider breeding establishments as professional establishments subjected to approval requirements, which reinforces the uneven playing field for the sector 41 .
The existing requirement to register breeding establishment allows the competent authorities to build on the existing registries and will facilitate the identification of the establishments that require approval. For pedigree breeders, the approval would likely be easy to obtain (as they usually follow higher animal welfare requirements already).
Mandatory identification (by electronically-read transponders) and registration in a national database of all dogs and cats before they are placed on the market or supplied would improve the traceability of dogs and cats (in particular in combination with specific conditions when the dogs or cats are sold or adopted through online platforms 42 ). As a result, competent authorities will be better able to control the identity and origin of dogs and cats traded and circulating on the internal market, discouraging fraud, and thus better controlling the animal welfare conditions in the establishment of origin.
In 24 Member States, such registration of dogs is already mandatory. In two of the three remaining Member States, it is regulated in a few of their regions, while only one Member State has no such requirements at all. Therefore, the cost of the measure would in practice be limited (albeit somewhat less limited for cats, for whom identification and registration is mandatory only in seven Member States) 43 .
The measure will not impact breeders of pedigree puppies and kittens, since these breeders are part of associations that have similar requirements in terms of identification and registration 44 . For other actors placing dogs and cats on the Union market, the proposal would have a limited economic impact: the cost for the operator or supplier for implanting a transponder and registration by a veterinarian is estimated to be around EUR 50 (disparities however exist across Member States) 45 . In the Member States where the registration of dogs (24) and cats (7) is already mandatory 46 , there would be no additional costs.
All Member States will be impacted by the requirement to ensure interoperability of national databases. This is crucial to ensure proper traceability and for verification systems to become fully functional. Experience in some Member States and third countries shows that interoperability can be achieved by developing application programming interfaces. A transition period is foreseen for Member States to be able to make these adaptations. Currently, a private initiative, called Europetnet, already links national and regional databases of 17 Member States (albeit on a voluntary basis) 47 . Hence, the impact of such a requirement would be relatively limited.
It is estimated that around 60% of dog and cat owners purchase their pet through the internet. That represents around 4,8 million dogs and 1,2 million cats 48 . There are at least 75 online platforms across the EU that intermediate the sale or donation of dogs and cats 49 . Offering dogs online is currently regulated in eight Member States, and offering cats online is currently regulated in at least seven Member States 50 . There are a number of divergences in these national regulatory approaches. For example, in Austria, only registered breeders can advertise online. In Brussels and Franders, advertisement online must include the approval number of the dog or cat breeders when the advertiser is the manager of an approved establishment (breeder/seller/shelter). The microchip number must be amongst the information provided in the advertisement.
The proposal would allow acquirers of dogs and cats to verify the authenticity of the identification and registration of dogs and cats via a website connected to national databases. Online platforms would be required to adapt their interface so that the suppliers provide the necessary information for buyers to use the website to verify the authenticity of the identification and registration of dogs and cats.
Based on private initiatives, systems have been developed and are already used voluntarily by certain online platforms whereby the verification of the authenticity of the identification and registration of the dogs and cats is made before the offer is published on an online platform. In addition, certain Member States have started to require the use of such verification systems. In France, since 1 July 2023, platforms must verify that advertisements for the sale of dogs or cats provide all mandatory information before any publication (including the breeder’s identity and the animal’s identification) which is to be verified in an automated manner against the national database. At the end of this process, the published advertisement mentions “verified advertisement”. In Germany, in 2021, the government announced an intention to develop similar requirements in order to introduce mandatory identity verification for online pet trade.
Such a system would greatly improve traceability – hence empowering sellers, online platforms, acquirers and competent authorities to easily check the identification and registration of a dog or a cat.
There is a considerable entry of dogs and cats into the Union, with several thousands of animals being imported every year. In addition to the legal importation, the illegal trade from outside the EU has been increasing in later years, with 45% of non-compliance and suspected cases of fraud detected within the EU or at its borders during the EU coordinated action involving dogs and cats directly originating from third countries such as Serbia, Belarus, Russia and Türkiye 51 . Current EU rules on the movements of dogs and cats, such as the provisions of Regulation 576/2013 and of the Animal Health Law, necessitate to be complemented by additional tools to limit opportunities for such illegal trade.
Some Member States that are points of entry of dogs and cats into the Union, such as Latvia, have observed repetitive non-compliances and suspected cases of fraud with consignments and the misuse of the non-commercial movement documents for trade purposes, and an increase in the volume of dogs and cats entering from Russia and Belarus. As a result, some of those Member States are considering national measures – for example Latvia has introduced additional control measures at import. However, if no action is taken at EU level, this would likely lead to diverting such movements to entering the Union via other Member States.
In addition, there is strong evidence of a very high level of Union citizens’ concerns about the welfare, including health, of dogs and cats bred and kept in establishments and supplied on the Union market. This can be seen in the above-mentioned Eurobarometer on animal welfare and European Parliament resolution, as well as the very high number of petitions, parliamentary questions, complaints and letters on this topic received by the European Commission from citizens, civil society organisations and parliamentarians. It can also be illustrated by the number of signatures received by campaigns organised by animal welfare NGOs in certain Member States.
Introducing animal welfare requirements on breeding establishments, pet shops and shelters in the EU, without requiring equivalent requirements for imports of dogs and cats from third countries, would lead to an increase in such imports from third countries’ establishments applying poor standards of welfare. This, because of attractive prices and a lack of information of Union consumers about the welfare conditions in the establishment of origin. Therefore, the animal welfare policy objective of this proposal would not be properly achieved, and Union citizens’ concerns would not be addressed.
Furthermore, the measures foreseen to be required also for import of dogs and cats (veterinary visits in establishments, establishments to comply with requirements regarding feeding, housing, health, behavioural needs and mutilations), are necessary to protect the health of dogs and cats, as well as public health.
The suboptimal circumstances of breeding cats and dogs in intense commercial breeding facilities (so-called “puppy mills”) lead to an excessive use of female animals for breeding. This very often leads to exhaustion, cachexia, and susceptibility to infectious diseases, in addition to reduced longevity.
Lack of traceability and proper vaccination represent a serious risk for transmission of zoonoses, such as rabies and echinococcosis, and therefore public health risks in the Union. Poor, feeding and housing conditions including low levels of hygiene, as well as use of painful practices such as mutilations, weaken the immune systems of the animals and are associated with an increased use of antimicrobials, which has an effect on the development of antibiotic-resistant infections in humans. Insufficient measures to address behavioural needs of the animals and proper socialization of the pups and kittens, cause behavioural issues in the pups and kittens, which later in life can cause serious public safety concerns due to the development of aggressive behaviour.
•Regulatory fitness and simplification
The proposal excludes small breeders of dogs and cats and small pet shops and shelters from the requirements applicable to establishments as such rules would be disproportionate. In addition, the proposal relies on digital tools (in particular the inter-operability of national databases of dogs and cats) to achieve the policy objective of limiting fraud.
•Fundamental rights
The empowerment for the Commission to adopt implementing acts for technical requirements concerning the national databases on dogs and cats, and the verification system for online platforms, include obligations for the Commission to specify in those implementing acts provisions on data protection in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation.
The impact on the Union budget is detailed in the financial statement and can be summarised as follows:
The proposal will require additional human resources for managing the implementation of the legislation and the development of interoperable databases for the identification and registration of dogs and cats (3 FTE).
In parallel, an operational budget of EUR 1,5 million is estimated to be needed for the development and initial operation of the system of verification of the authenticity of this identification and registration for offerings via online Platforms and ensuring the interoperability of national databases and then, EUR 300,000 per year for its maintenance and operation.
•Implementation plans and monitoring, evaluation and reporting arrangements
This proposal introduces a list of policy indicators, which may be reviewed and completed, and a requirement for Member States to report on them regularly to the Commission, as this is necessary to monitor and evaluate the success of this Regulation. On this basis, the Commission will publish a regularly updated dashboard showing data on the welfare of dogs and cats put on the Union market.
In order to be able to gather robust evidence after the 7 years transition periods, an evaluation report should be presented 15 years after the entry into force.
•Explanatory documents (for directives)
Not applicable.
•Detailed explanation of the specific provisions of the proposal
This scope covers the breeding and keeping of dogs and cats in establishments (including pet shops and animal shelters) and their placing on the market or their offer for adoption at no cost. The proposal also covers the traceability of dogs and cats placed on the market or supplied in the Union. It excludes dogs and cats kept for scientific purposes.
Chapter II – Obligation of operators of establishments
This chapter does not apply to small establishments.
It introduces the principles of animal welfare based on the concept of the “five domains”, i.e. the needs of animals in terms of nutrition, environment, health, behavior and mental state.
This chapter also establishes an obligation for operators to notify their activities to the competent authorities as well as to inform customers on responsible ownership.
This chapter sets out requirements for the competence of animal caretakers and requires establishments to have veterinary visits.
The chapter then defines technical requirements on feeding and watering, housing, health, behavioural needs and painful practices, for breeding establishments, pet shops and shelters (however a number of provisions are not required for shelters). In addition, it requires breeding establishments to be approved by the competent authorities. Provisions on housing, health and the approval of breeding establishment have a deferred application of 5 years.
This chapter obliges establishments keeping dogs and cats and suppliers of dogs and cats in the Union to identify the concerned animals by microchip and to register them in a database.
It also requires suppliers of dogs or cats to provide evidence of identification and registration. In addition, online platforms where dogs or cats are offered for supply are required to enable suppliers to provide proof of the identification and the registration of dogs or cats offered on those platforms. It requires the Commission to ensure the development of a system publicly available free of charge verifying the authenticity of the identification and registration of a dog or cat.
This chapter requires competent authorities to offer training for animal caretakers on animal welfare and to approve training programmes on animal welfare.
The chapter requires Member States to establish a database for dogs and cats identified by microchip.
The chapter also contains an obligation for competent authorities to collect, analyse and publish data on animal welfare, and to report these to the Commission every 3 years.
Chapter V – Entry into the Union of dogs and cats
This chapter contains rules on the entry into the Union of dogs and cats bred and kept in compliance with or equivalent conditions to the ones of this proposal.
This chapter contains the provisions for the empowerments for the Commission to supplement and amend the non-essential elements of the annexes to the Regulation by delegated acts, in order to take account of new scientific evidence or technical progress relevant to animal welfare.
This chapter contains rules on stricter national measures. Member States are allowed to maintain such rules that apply when the Regulation enters into force. Furthermore, Member States are allowed to adopt new legislation which establishes stricter national provisions as regards housing conditions, enrichment, mutilations and breeding strategies, provided that they are consistent with the Union’s respective rules and that they do not restrict the free movement and placing on the market of products not complying with the stricter national requirements.
The chapter also requires the Commission to publish a monitoring report every 5 years on the welfare of dogs and cats placed on the market. The chapter requires the Member States to put in place effective, proportionate and dissuasive penalties, and to notify these to the Commission.