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, most recently in September 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 level of the European Union, the topic is also virulent. The European Parliament, in a rarely broad consensus, has called for Europe-wide identification and registration in a motion for a resolution, most recently in February 2016, the committee for environment followed in 2018 with a resolution.

The topic is cumbersome and often wiped off the table with the unasserted counter-argument of bureaucracy and high costs. In the course of the work of the Network, however, it became increasingly clear that such a system is quite cost-effective and effectively feasible for Germany, through intelligent networking and the use of existing databases. In February 2017, all animal welfare officers, representatives from the veterinary sector, transponder technology, the registry of companion animals in Germany and animal welfare have therefore come together in working groups and drafted guidelines for nationwide uniform identification and registration of dogs and cats, including at the same time the capacity of compatibility within European Member States.

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 to the highest technical standard 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. 

Here you can find more information.