16 Mar 2020
Rural affairs minister says a new system is being introduced that will allow owners to go online and amend their own records free of charge.
John Bonner
Job Title
Image © rihaij / Pixabay
Rural affairs minister Lord Gardiner has offered a carrot to horse owners to encourage them to provide accurate details of their animals to the central equine database (CED).
Speaking at the National Equine Forum in London (5 March), the minister told horse industry representatives a new system was being introduced that will allow owners to go online and amend their own records free of charge.
Lord Gardiner said: “An effective CED is a critical part of our drive for better equine identification and traceability. But the information contained within it must be reliable and, at the moment, less than 1 in 10 entries is fully accurate.
“The main reason is the failure of many owners to alert passport issuing organisations (PIOs) to changes in their own or their horse’s circumstances. These errors have to be corrected and fast – if not this will threaten human health, equine traceability and our biosecurity.
“Also having the right information supports equine welfare by giving a more reliable picture of horse ownership, and helping to identify strays and abandoned animals.”
Lord Gardiner highlighted the approaching deadline for owners to arrange that horses born before the introduction of compulsory microchipping for horses in October 2009 are permanently identified.
All horses will need to be microchipped by:
Any owners that fail to comply could face sanctions from their local authority, including a compliance notice and, at last resort, a fine of up to £200.
As before, horse and donkey owners can ensure their details on the CED are updated by contacting their PIOs. But Lord Gardiner said they can also now use the CED interface – dubbed the digital stable – to enter those details themselves.
To ensure the accuracy of that information, a system of ID validation will exist and changes in ownership will be subject to a rigorous screening process, he said.
A targeted publicity campaign explaining the new approach will be launched shortly, Lord Gardiner added.
British Horse Council chairman David Mountford accepted the need for an accurate equine database and welcomed the Government proposals. He said: “As horse owners, we have been pretty awful at keeping our PIOs appraised of changes such as a new address, changes of ownership or changes in the status of the horse, such as gelding or death.
“Now we will have no excuses for ignoring our legal obligations. Updating our own records and registering passports issued in Ireland or some other EU country will be easy and free.”
