The horse passport for EU members states

Horses, ponies, donkeys and zebras in Europe can be identified by their passport and, in most cases, by a microchip usually implanted in the animal’s neck. The horse’s details are also kept in the passport-issuing agency’s database.

Why the need for a passport?

The horse passport is meant to protect public health (to record certain veterinary medications if the horse is to be slaughtered) and to ensure animal health (to record inoculations). The passport also encourages honesty in the trade of horses (a purchased horse is identified by means of its passport) and discourages theft.

The new EU legislations

The new EU regulations went into effect on July 1, 2009. A few things about the identification and registration of horses have changed. What are the most important things that KFPS members should be aware of?

Medical treatment

First of all, that every passport has to be provided with a “medical treatment” section. Passports issued before 2004 (the ones with the yellow cover) do not have a “medical treatment” section. As you have been informed of more than once, these passports could be supplemented with a “medical treatment” insert sheet until June 30. If, for whatever reason, a passport was not supplemented with an insert sheet, its validity expired on July 1, 2009. This means that a new passport needs to be applied for from the agency that issues these passports. This involves submitting an “application form for original passport” along with the original passport that no longer satisfies the legislation now in force.

Inoculations and the use of medications have to be recorded in the passport by the veterinarian unless the horse keeper/owner has declared in the passport that the horse will not be slaughtered. This status can no longer be changed. Without this declaration, every horse is destined for slaughter.

Types of passports

There are various types of passports:

-       Original passport

-       Duplicate passport

-       Replacement passport

-       Follow-up passport

Original passport

Every horse that receives a passport for the first time receives an original passport. The original passport must be applied for within seven days after the microchip has been implanted. If this interval is longer, the application is no longer valid and a new application will have to be submitted.

Duplicate or replacement passport

An original passport can also go missing. If so, the owner can apply to the same passport-issuing agency for a duplicate or replacement passport. The application form also asks the owner to indicate how the passport went missing. The KFPS will process only fully completed applications that have been declared to be truthfully filled in. A decision will then have to be made as to whether the horse will be eligible for a duplicate passport or for a replacement passport.

A duplicate passport can be issued only if the identity of the horse can still be established.

A replacement passport is issued if the identity of the horse can no longer be established (e.g. due to the lack of a microchip and when a DNA verification of the horse’s line of descent can no longer be established either).

Please note: Horses with a duplicate/replacement passport will never be eligible for slaughter for human consumption. The passport-issuing agency will always add this declaration when issuing the passport.

You can see at a glance which of these passports you are dealing with: printed in the window is the word “duplicaatpaspoort” (duplicate passport) or “vervangend paspoort” (replacement passport).

Follow-up passport

Even though passports provide a lot of space for the recording of inoculations, these pages can sometimes be filled up. If so, a follow-up passport can be applied for from the same passport-issuing agency that provided the original passport. The passport will then be modified to provide additional space for inoculations. 

Temporary document

If the passport has been submitted to the office of the passport-issuing agency and the horse will still have to be transported, a temporary document will have to be provided. This temporary document allows the horse to be transported within the Netherlands for up to 45 days. 

I&R regulations for horse keepers

The EU legislation also contains rules to which horse keepers have to conform. Here is a list of the key points:

-       Never purchase a horse without a passport.

-       All horses in the Netherlands for which a passport has been applied have an implanted microchip.

-       Keeping a horse without a passport and microchip is forbidden. This also applies, thus, to horses kept as a riding academy stables or boarding stables. In such a case, the passport must be kept at the riding academy stables or boarding stables. Make the proper arrangements about the passport with the owner of such a facility; for example, have this person declare in writing that he/she has received the horses’ passports.

-       As a rule, a horse will be slaughtered for human consumption unless its keeper (and/or the veterinarian) indicates in Section IX (medical treatment) of the horse passport that the horse will not be slaughtered.

-       The horse keeper is not permitted to introduce annotations or changes in a passport. The only exception is that in Section IX (medical treatment) of the passport, the keeper/owner can declare that the horse will not be slaughtered.

Other important considerations:

-       Upon the birth of a horse in the Netherlands, a request for a passport has to be submitted within six months after the birth. The request must be accompanied by an application form that has been completed by the horse passport official/qualified veterinarian. The application has to be submitted within seven days after the foal has been implanted with a microchip. For registration, the foal must still be accompanying its dam.

-       In general, the passport must always accompany the horse during the transport of the horse.

-       When being transported to the slaughterhouse, the passport must always accompany the horse.

-       Upon the death of the horse, the passport must be returned to the passport-issuing agency within 30 days.

-       If the passport goes missing, a duplicate or replacement passport can be requested (see explanation above).

Unidentified horses

-       Every horse keeper must ensure that a foal is identified by means of a microchip and a passport within six months of its birth.

-       Horse keepers who have not complied with the current identification obligations and are still keeping horses older than six months of age without a passport and/or microchip have until December 31, 2009 to apply for a passport for these horses.

-       If a passport for horses older than six months is requested after January 1, 2010, any such a passport will be issued with limitations (horse will be excluded from slaughter).