The "Network Identification and Registration (Network I&R)"

The "Network Identification and Registration (I&R)" is a working group which emerged from several professional events in 2016. The common interdisciplinary goal: a nationwide legal obligation for owners to identify and register their dogs and cats. For multiple issues related to dogs and cats, full traceability of the owner provides an indispensable component of the solution.

As early as 2016, the European Parliament called for Europe-wide identification and registration in a resolution. The Environment Committee followed with a resolution in 2018. Most recently, a harmonised EU-wide system of mandatory identification and registration was called for in a European Parliament resolution on illegal pet trade in the EU in February 2020.

At the European Union level, the issue is also virulent. As early as 2016, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for Europe-wide identification and registration. The Environmental Committee followed with a decision in 2018. In February 2020, a harmonized EU-wide system of mandatory identification and registration was called for in a European Parliament resolution on the illegal trade in companion animals in the EU. In December 2023, the EU Commission published a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the welfare of dogs and cats and their traceability (COM(2023) 769 final 2023/0447 (COD)). This proposed regulation also includes the identification and registration of selected dogs and cats and the interoperability of national databases. The I&R network expressly welcomes the proposed regulation, but contrary to the proposal, calls for all dogs and cats to be identified and registered and recommends using existing pet databases instead of setting up new databases for registration.

A brochure was released in December 2017 to highlight the urgent problems with dogs and cats in Germany and Europe, their background, their relationships and by way of example, the basic parameters for a solution model. This basic concept was presented in the frame of a Parliamentary Evening in January 2018 in Berlin. Beyond a support for the public authorities, veterinary practitioners and others there is a positive side effect of a nationwide mandatory and compatible identification and registration for consistent and reliable extraction of animal numbers. 

In November 2019 the conference "Time to act! A Mandatory Identification an Registration (I&R) for dogs and cats in Germany and Developments in the EU"  took place in Berlin. There, a tailor-made cost-friendly solution for the identification and registration of dogs and cats in Germany was presented. The solution developed by the Network I&R makes it possible to collect independent, reliable data on private dog and cat keeping. In addition, such a model makes life easier for authorities such as veterinary offices. Further information on the conference can be found here.