Directive 90/427/EEC lays down the zootechnical conditions governing intra-Union trade in equidae. It requires Member States to ensure that registered equidae being moved are accompanied by an identification document issued by the approved breeding organisations or breeders' associations referred to in that Directive.

Directive 2009/156/EC lays down the animal health conditions for the movement and the importation from third countries of equidae. It provides that registered equidae are to be identified by an identification document issued in accordance with Directive 90/427/EEC or by an international association or organisation which manages horses for competition or racing. Equidae for breeding and production are to be identified by a method established by the Commission.

Member States have encountered difficulties in implementing the measures provided for in Regulation (EC) No 504/2008. Those difficulties mainly concern the method of identification of equidae by means of the identification document.

During recent years, fly-grazing has emerged as a new phenomenon affecting owners of grazed land, since legally they have become keepers of equidae and unintentionally acquired responsibilities under Regulation (EC) No 504/2008. The unclear status of these equidae may also be relevant for the correct application of Union rules in other areas.

It has become apparent that the information recorded in the database of the issuing body at the time of issuance of the identification document quickly becomes outdated. It is thus extremely difficult, if not completely impractical, for the competent authorities to verify, in the context of certification or an identity check, whether or not an identification document is authentic and the information it contains is current and plausible and was not subject to fraudulent alterations, primarily relating to the status of the animals as intended for slaughter, but also in order to use the more favourable animal health and welfare conditions for movement of registered equidae.

In most Member States the databases of the different passport issuing bodies are not connected with each other, and for legal and administrative reasons a single passport issuing body is not a readily available option. Therefore, the establishment of a central database is considered to be the most effective solution to exchange and synchronise data between the different actors under Directives 90/427/EEC and 2009/156/EC as much as necessary to manage identification documents of equidae with the view to provide not only the required animal health guarantees but also to enable the application of those provisions in Union legislation on animal welfare and public health that have a correct and reliable identification of equidae as a prerequisite.

An inquiry carried out by the Commission in the context of the horsemeat events of 2013 showed that 23 Member States have established a central database, and two Member States have a single database for registered equidae and equidae for breeding and production respectively. Three Member States, representing about 20 % of the 6,7 million equidae in the Union, have no centralised database.

It is therefore necessary to review the Union system for the identification of equidae in order to ensure it is safe but also user-friendly.

To ensure a high quality of identification documents and record keeping for all equidae in the Union, Member States should ensure that those systems for the identification of registered equidae which have been entered or registered in studbooks established by approved or recognised breeding organisations or breeders' associations meet, as regards the issuing of identification documents, the conditions established for the designation by the competent authority of bodies issuing identification documents for equidae for breeding and production.

Under legislation in Member States or as a requirement of certain issuing bodies, information on the owner of the animal needs to be entered in the identification document and as a consequence in the database maintained by the issuing body. This information on ownership, and moreover on the change of ownership, may be provided in different formats of ownership certificates or registration cards, including the ‘carte d'immatriculation’ practiced successfully in a Member State.

Regulation (EC) No 504/2008 provides that equidae are not to be kept unless they are identified in accordance with that Regulation. The Commission has had to respond to several complaints concerning domestic horse populations living outside holdings in conditions that were not compatible with those described as semi-wild in that Regulation. It is therefore necessary to clarify, that equidae living in the Union are to be identified and as a second step to provide for a derogation where that condition cannot be met.

Equidae living in the Union should be identified by a lifetime identification document that provides a narrative and a diagrammatical description of the equine animal and records the individual marks of that animal for the purpose of identity verification. These marks may be either inherited, such as more than three whorls, chestnuts, colour marks, rare eye pigment defects, specific muscle depressions, but also detail-rich structures of iris or retina, specific genetic markers (DNA profile) or they may be acquired, such as saddle sore depigmentation and scars, including those from castration of stallions, or a brand.

Identification documents should not be issued unless completed with the required identification details which are to be recorded in the database of the issuing body in accordance with this Regulation.

In addition, the certificate of origin, provided for in Directive 90/427/EEC, to be incorporated in the identification document should mention all necessary information to ensure that equidae which are moved between different studbooks are entered in the class of the studbook the criteria of which they meet.

The bodies issuing identification documents for registered equidae should be the organisations or associations which maintain or establish studbooks for registered equidae that are officially approved or recognised by the competent authority of a Member State in accordance with Decision 92/353/EEC, or an official agency of the Member State which manages the studbook in which the equine animal is entered or registered for breeding purposes in accordance with Decision 96/78/EC. Furthermore, national branches of international organisations or associations, which manage horses for competition or racing and have their headquarters in a Member State should also be able to act as a body issuing identification documents for registered horses.

Member States should be afforded more discretion in relation to the issuing bodies that issue identification documents for equidae for breeding and production. It should be possible for those identification documents to be issued by the competent authority for the holding where the equine animal is kept at the time of its identification or an issuing body designated and supervised by that competent authority.

The competent authority responsible for the approval or recognition of organisations or associations establishing studbooks in accordance with the Annex to Decision 92/353/EEC should cooperate with the competent authority referred to in Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 to ensure, where necessary by way of cooperation across borders, that identification documents for equidae are issued and used in accordance with this Regulation.

To verify the identity of an equine animal, the identification document should contain first of all a high quality description of the equine animal consisting of a narrative describing the equine animal and its marks, and a detailed outline diagram displaying the individual and distinguishing marks of the equine animal.

The marks of an equine animal and the means of identification applied to it, which in combination are used for the purpose of identity verification, should not only establish an unequivocal link between the equine animal and its identification document, but should also show that this equine animal has undergone the process of identification in accordance with this Regulation so that not more than one identification document is issued in respect of a single animal. Electronic identifiers (‘transponders’) for equidae are already used widely at international level. That technology should be used to ensure a close link between the equine animal and its identification document, although provision should be made for alternative methods to be used for the verification of the identity of the equine animal provided that those alternative methods deliver equivalent guarantees to prevent multiple issuing of identification documents.

Transponders used for the marking of equidae and the reading devices to display the code embedded in the transponder should comply with internationally agreed standards. Those standards provide for two different systems to ensure the uniqueness of the transponder code. The majority of Member States have implemented Regulation (EC) No 504/2008 in such a way as to use a three-digit alpha-numeric country code and to manage the distribution of the transponders through their competent authorities.

That system of ensuring the uniqueness of the transponder code should be integrated into the design of the databases maintained by issuing bodies and the central database implemented without compromising trade in and imports into the Union of equidae marked by a transponder displaying an alpha-numeric code of a different design.

While equidae must always be accompanied by their identification documents in accordance with current Union legislation, provision should be made to derogate from that requirement when it is impossible or even impractical with the view to the retention of the identification document throughout the lifetime of the equine animal, or where such a document was not issued taking into account the slaughter of the animal before it reaches the required maximum age for identification.

Member States should also be permitted to allow a simplified identification document to be used for equidae being moved within their territory. Plastic cards with embedded computer chips (‘smart cards’) have been introduced as data storage devices in various areas. It should be possible to issue such smart cards as an option in addition to the identification document and to use them under certain conditions instead of the identification document accompanying registered equidae or equidae for breeding and production during movements within a Member State.

It is also necessary to provide for cases where the original identification document issued in accordance with this Regulation for the lifetime of the equine animal is lost, is no longer legible or contains incorrect information which are not the result of illegal practices. Those provisions should, as far as possible, exclude the unlawful possession of more than one identification document in order to describe correctly the equine animal's status as intended for slaughter for human consumption. Where sufficient and verifiable information is available, a duplicate identification document should be issued which is marked as such, and generally excludes the equine animal from slaughter for human consumption. In other cases, a replacement identification document should be issued, equally marked as such and excluding the equine animal from slaughter for human consumption, that in addition should define the animal as an equine animal for breeding and production.

Those procedures should also apply to equidae that are presented for identification after the established deadline for the first identification because fraudulent practices and the intention to obtain an additional identification document cannot be excluded.

In certain cases, where equidae are entered or registered for entry in studbooks maintained by breeding organisations in third countries, specific provisions are necessary that allow the equine animal to maintain its registration in that studbook and at the same time to ensure its exclusion from the food chain by appropriate entries in that identification document.

In accordance with Directive 2009/156/EC, the identification document is an instrument to restrict the movement of equidae in the case of an outbreak of a compulsorily notifiable disease on the holding where they are kept or bred. It is therefore necessary to provide for the suspension of the validity of that identification document for movement purposes in the event of an outbreak of certain diseases by an appropriate entry in the identification document.

In addition, Directive 2009/156/EC requires that registered equidae when they leave their holding are identified by means of an identification document, which must certify in particular that the equidae do not come from a holding which has been subject to certain prohibition orders. It is therefore appropriate to make the dedicated Section in the model identification document compulsory for all equidae and to reword it accordingly.

To prevent transponders from entering the food chain, meat from equine animals from which it has not been possible to remove the transponder at the time of slaughter should be declared unfit for human consumption in accordance with Chapter V of Section II of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 854/2004. To ease the location of the implanted transponders, the place of implantation should be standardised and recorded in the identification documents.

Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 provides that the slaughterhouse operator is to receive, check and act upon food chain information providing details on the origin, history and management of animals intended for food production. The competent authority may allow food chain information on domestic solipeds to be sent to the slaughterhouse at the same time as the animals, rather than being sent in advance. The identification document accompanying equidae for slaughter should therefore form a part of that food chain information.

Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 provides that the official veterinarian is to verify compliance with the food business operator's duty to ensure that animals accepted for slaughter for human consumption are properly identified.

Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 provides that food business operators are to check passports accompanying domestic solipeds to ensure that the animal is intended for slaughter for human consumption and if they accept the animal for slaughter they are to give the passport to the official veterinarian.

Given the specific situation of equidae which are born as animals of a food producing species, but which are not in all cases primarily bred for that purpose and are in the majority of cases not kept throughout their lives by food business operators as defined in point 3 of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, it is necessary to provide for a procedure that ensures a seamless connection from the checks on the identification document for public health reasons to the management of that document in accordance with Directive 2009/156/EC. A central database in each Member State is therefore instrumental to verify certain details of and in an identification document before a decision is taken to accept that animal for slaughter for human consumption. In the case where the information as regards the exclusion from slaughter for human consumption in Section II of the identification document does not match the information recorded in the central database, the information contained in either of them which leads to the exclusion of the equine animal from slaughter for human consumption should prevail.

In accordance with Directive 2001/82/EC, Member States are to ensure that the owners or keepers of food-producing animals can provide proof of purchase, possession and administration of veterinary medicinal products to such animals for 5 years after their administration, including when the animal is slaughtered during the 5-year period. It is therefore necessary for the application of that legislation that the slaughter of an equine animal is promptly inserted in the central database of the Member State where the holding of the animal is located.

In order to maintain control over the issuing of identification documents, a minimum set of relevant data relating to the issuing of such documents should be recorded in a database maintained by the issuing body.

The UELN system is suitable for the registration of both registered equidae and equidae for breeding and production and allows computerised networks to be brought in gradually to ensure that the animals' identity can continue to be verified in accordance with Article 6 of Directive 90/427/EEC in the case of registered equidae.

When codes are assigned to databases, those codes and the format of the recorded identification numbers of individual animals should in no way conflict with the established UELN system. Therefore, the list of assigned UELN codes should be consulted before any new code is assigned to a database.

Directive 2009/156/EC requires the official veterinarian to record the identification number or identification document number of the slaughtered equidae, and to forward to the competent authority at the place of dispatch, at the latter's request, an attestation to the effect that the animal has been slaughtered. It should therefore be clarified that in such cases the identification documents must be destroyed at the place of slaughter to prevent the fraudulent use of identification documents from slaughtered equine animals.

That Directive also provides that after registered horses are slaughtered, which includes killing, for disease control purposes, their identification documents are to be returned to the body that issued them. Those requirements should also apply to identification documents issued for registered equidae other than registered horses and equidae for breeding and production.

To ensure that the databases of issuing bodies contain up-to-date information, it is necessary to establish a flow of information on the death or loss of the animal in the database of the body which issued the document and in the central database in the Member State where the holding is located on which the equine animal was kept.

Recording a UELN-compatible life number and using it to identify the authorities or bodies which issued the identification document should facilitate compliance with those requirements. Where possible, Member States should use the liaison bodies they have designated in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 882/2004.

By compulsory recording of the applicant for an identification document, who is, within the time limit of less than 12 months after the birth of the animal, the breeder and usually the owner of the animal for which an identification document is issued, together with the obligation to notify to the issuing body any change of usual residence of the equine animal to a different Member State, a chain of information can be built up to trace an animal where necessary.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 504/2008, identification details are to be updated in the identification document by the issuing body that issued the document. Member States have reported the reluctance of owners of equidae to submit by mail the identification document to issuing bodies for the updating of identification details, even more so where the issuing body is located abroad. This reluctance is based on fears to lose the identification document and consequently to have the equine animal identified by a duplicate or replacement identification document which excludes the animal from slaughter for human consumption and substantially decreases the value of the animal.

To ease the management of the identification document throughout the lifetime of the animal, it is necessary to introduce procedures for the registration of the identification document in the Member State of usual residence especially where the identification document was issued in a different Member State. The necessary communication with the issuing body who carried out the initial identification is best achieved by the exchange of information between the central databases of the Member States concerned.

In addition, issuing bodies may lose their approval or designation while the identification documents issued remain valid documents for animal and public health purposes. It is therefore necessary to back up the information in the identification document by means of a database that is accessible to the competent authorities in the field of animal and public health and animal welfare.

Because there is usually more than one issuing body in each Member State, equidae frequently move between holdings and between Member States, they change their status from ‘equidae for breeding and production’ to ‘registered equidae’ or from food producing animals to animals which are excluded from slaughter for human consumption and because registered equidae may be identified by an organisation keeping a studbook which has its headquarters in another Member State, it is inevitable, necessary and appropriate for the effective implementation of Directives 90/427/EEC and 2009/156/EC to establish a central database in each Member State that contains records of identification details of all equidae kept on holdings located in the respective Member State.

However, it would be permissible that those Member States that have set up a single database for registered equidae and another for equidae for breeding and production continue to operate such system, provided the databases can communicate and the veterinary authorities have full access to each of them.

With a view to the uniform application of Union legislation on the identification of equidae in the Member States and to ensure that it is clear and transparent, Regulation (EC) No 504/2008 should be repealed and replaced by this Regulation.

This Regulation should apply from 1 January 2016 in order to give Member States and operators the time to adapt to the new rules. However, the requirement to establish and operate a central database should apply in Greece, Sweden and the United Kingdom from 1 July 2016.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed and the Standing Committee on Zootechnics,