Pet sellers to face compulsory registration under new EU law

Professional pet sellers in the European Union could soon be forced to be properly registered after new rules were adopted Tuesday by the European Parliament (EP).

The measures are part of a move to deal with outbreaks of diseases such as avian flu and foot and mouth disease.

The draft Animal Health Law was approved without a vote in an early second reading after being adopted by the EU Council of Ministers in December 2015. Following the EP's endorsement, the regulation can now pass into law later this year.

Farmers, animal owners and traders will be obliged to apply good animal husbandry and "prudent use" of veterinary medicines. Vets will have to raise awareness of the connections between animal health and welfare, and human health, including resistance to microbes.

The EU Commission, for its part, has pledged to monitor the use of animal antibiotics in member states and regularly publish comparable data.

Members of European Parliament (MEPs) also inserted rules to help prevent strays or illegally traded pets from transmitting disease. These require all professional pet keepers and sellers to be registered, and empowers the Commission to ask member states to set up national databases of dogs, cats and other pets if deemed necessary.

"The adoption of the Animal Health Law is a great victory," said Swedish Liberal MEP Jasenko Selimovic, the EP's rapporteur on the draft laws, adding the new law merged around 40 legal acts into one basic act.

MEPs ensured that European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) experts will be consulted when updating the EU list of potentially dangerous diseases and that farmers' organizations, veterinary associations, animal welfare movements and others will be involved in drafting contingency plans.

All disease control measures will have to take animal welfare into account and spare targeted animals, including stray ones, any avoidable pain, distress or suffering. Endit