Horse passports: final rules agreed

DEFRA has advised that final regulations setting out the requirements for horse owners under the new horse passport scheme have been laid before Parliament. Owners must apply for a passport by 30 June 2004 from one of the registered Passport Issuing Organisations.

The Scottish Executive, Welsh Assembly Government and Northern Ireland Department for Agriculture and Rural Development have agreed with DEFRA that restrictions on horses without passports will apply from 28 February 2005 throughout the UK.

Further information for equine owners is available on the DEFRA website or via the DEFRA helpline on 08459 335577.

The regulations set out requirements on persons administering veterinary medicinal products, including:

• Where a veterinary medicine is to be administered to a horse, the person in possession of the horse's passport shall make it available to the veterinary surgeon or other person administering the product.
• The person administering the product shall satisfy himself that the horse is the one described in the passport.
• An owner must sign a declaration in the passport (Section IX part II or IIIb) that the horse is intended for slaughter for human consumption; or that it is not intended for slaughter for human consumption (this latter declaration may not be altered) or make no declaration (a late concession by DEFRA). If there is no declaration, the horse is treated as if intended for human consumption.
• If the horse has been declared as not intended for slaughter for human consumption, there is no requirement to record the administration of medicines in Section IX part IIIb of the passport (vaccinations are recorded in a separate section of the horse passport).
• The medicines, if administered, that shall be recorded in Section IX part IIIb of the horse's passport are:
  
  • medicines containing substances not included in the Annexes of European Council Regulation 2377/90 (these lists can be accessed via the VMD website under publications: horse medicines); and,
  • medicines that include substances in Annex IV of European Council Regulation 2377/90 (if administered, the passport declaration that the horse is not for human consumption must be signed immediately or the keeper of the horse must be given written notification to this effect and that the horse may not be slaughtered for human consumption.

[Entries in Section IX part IIIb can be made by owners and those who administer medicines to the horse, as well as the veterinary surgeon.]

• Optionally, medicines that include substances in Annex I, II and III of European Council Regulation 2377/90 may be recorded in Section IX part IIIb of the horse's passport.
• The information concerning withdrawal periods is subject to clarification.
• If a passport is not available at the time a veterinary surgeon administers a medicine, or the medicine is prescribed or supplied, the keeper of the horse shall be given a written record of the treatment and written notification that these must be recorded in the passport. The keeper of the horse shall then give the information to the owner. Following receipt of the information, the owner shall, as soon as the passport becomes available, enter the information in the passport unless he or she immediately signs the declaration in the passport that the horse is not intended for slaughter for human consumption. If a product containing a substance specified in Annex IV to Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2377/90 has been administered, the owner shall sign the declaration in the passport that the horse is not intended for slaughter for human consumption.

If a veterinary surgeon is concerned about the validity of a horse's passport, for example if the silhouette in the passport does not appear to match the horse, he or she may proceed as if the passport is not available.