Horse passports: Minimum Operating Standards (MOpS) for Passport Issuing Organisations (PIOs)

Passports

Passport Records

7. PIOs must act in accordance with EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (see section on Data Handling for additional information).

8. Records must be accurate, clear, up to date and readily available.

9. An immediately-searchable, fully computerised data set must be held by each PIO, consisting of at least the fields required by Article 38(1) of the 2016 Regulation.

10. The electronic record must also show:

a) Any evidence of modification, tampering or fraud, including section II (and pre-2016 Section IX) anomalies.

b) Details of any passports returned to keepers following the death of a horse. These must include the name and contact details of the person to whom the passport was returned as well as the date of return

c) Details of any pages previously added to the passport subsequent to its first issue, including date, number of pages and contents

d) Details of any temporary documents issued, including issue and expiry dates

e) Details of the issue of any substitute issued for a damaged passport

f) Details of re-issue of document, noting the reason for re-issue

11. Records must be kept by the PIO for at least 35 years or until at least 2 years from the date of death of the animal concerned.

12. Where exact copies or scans of paper records, including signatures, are held on electronic record in such a way that they can be easily retrieved and printed for enforcement authorities then there is no need to retain the paper record.

13. Passports issued before 1 January 2016 are still valid and do not need to be replaced.

Application Process

14. In Scotland it is the responsibility of the keeper to apply for a horse passport. In most cases, the keeper is also likely to be the owner.

15. Horse keepers must ensure that the PIO receives an application for a passport 30 days prior to the deadline for identification.

16. The deadline for identification is by within 6 months of birth or the end of the calendar year of birth, whichever is later.

17. PIOs must issue an application pack within 7 days of it being requested. With the exception of Section I parts A and B, a blank passport or part thereof must not be sent as an application form.

18. First passports that are applied for, or issued after the above deadlines must be treated as “late” and be issued as a Duplicate/Replacement passport instead.

19. If a passport was issued prior to 1 January 2016 and meets the requirements which were laid out in Commission Regulation (EC) 504/2008 then the passport remains valid and it is not necessary to issue a new passport.

20. Currently, it is a legal requirement for all horses born on or after 30 June 2009 to have a passport and be implanted with a transponder by a veterinarian who is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS).

21. From 28 March 2021 it became a legal requirement for all horses to be implanted with a transponder by a veterinarian who is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS).

22. PIOs should check that the veterinarian who has completed Section 1 Part B of the application is a member of the RCVS before issuing an identification document. This can be done via the RCVS database.

Passport Format

23. All passports issued must follow the example layout set out in Annex 1 Part 1 of the

2016 Regulation; and must follow the extra security and binding requirements set out in Annex 1 Part 2 of the 2016 Regulation.

24. A title page may be included ahead of Section I with the UELN, horse’s name, organisation’s name and any extra security features included.

25. Section I, Part A must be type-printed. When entering a person’s name into the relevant passport sections their name must be typed, in full. Abbreviated names and initials are not acceptable.

26. Section I, Part A must be sealed with transparent laminate after the information has been entered. Any alteration in colour or markings after the passport was issued should be recorded in Section I, Part C

27. Additional pages for the statutory Sections may be included as required to ensure sufficient pages are present for the on-going use of the passport.

28. For registered horses, if necessary, an extended pedigree may be included as a single page extension to Section V, which must follow immediately after the Certificate of Origin and be marked ‘Section V, Pedigree’.

29. Space for noting registrations in other studbooks may be included underneath the Certificate of Origin in Section V.

30. Additional pages containing non statutory information may be included in passports for registered horses only if they are:

• Positioned at the end of the passport after the statutory pages;
• Clearly separated from the statutory pages; and
• Clearly identified as non-statutory pages and printed on a different colour paper from the statutory pages.

31. All passports issued in Scotland shall currently be in both English and French but can additionally be translated into any other language or languages as required by the PIO.

32. PIOs must provide accurate information outlining all of the legal responsibilities of horse keepers in relation to passports. This information is available on the Scottish Government website and must be accessible on the PIOs website via a web link. Additionally, if the PIO chooses, they can also provide the information as a loose leaflet as part of any passport issued.

33. PIOs must keep a detailed record of any changes to the appearance of the passports that they issue over time so they can assist in the identification of fraud. They must retain sample copies of all passport variations.

34. In order to help verify any changes to a passport, PIOs must keep a detailed record of any changes to the format of their official stamp or embossing stamp and the colour of any ink used with it.

35. A sample passport must be provided if requested by the Scottish Government.

Issuing Passports

36. Documented operating procedures must be in place for the issuing, updating and replacement of passports that reflect the requirements of the 2016 Regulation and the Scotland Regulation. These procedures must be properly understood by all staff.

37. For identification only passports, the organisation cannot verify the breeding of the horse and Section V (Certificate of Origin) must not be completed. Passport applicants requiring the inclusion of breeding details should be referred to an appropriate recognised breed society.

38. If you are maintaining pre-printed stocks of passport pages that include Sections I-III then these must have serial numbers applied to them. The format used is at the discretion of the PIO, but should avoid any potential confusion with a UELN or microchip number.

39. Passports must contain the following Sections:

• Breed/Registered passports – at least Sections I to X. Section XI may be included
• ID only passports – at least Sections I to IV. Sections V to XI may be included but information should not be entered in Section V.

40. Before issue appropriate checks must be made that information provided and entered into the passport is correct and that a passport does not already exist. This must include checking the existing records held by ScotEquine and the UKCED chip checker. Where it is claimed that a horse is of a specific breed and the passport production deadlines have been exceeded, enquiries must be made with PIOs for that breed.

41. For rescued horses it is accepted that information on the existence of a passport may not be available. Where the PIO is satisfied that the horse was genuinely rescued, a replacement or duplicate passport must be produced in accordance with Articles 29 or 32 of the 2016 Regulation, and in both instances signed out of the human food chain in Part II of Section II of the passport.

42. In Scotland the transponder must be implanted by a veterinarian who is a member of the RCVS. The passport application form must also be signed by the veterinarian to confirm the information provided is correct.

43. The PIO is responsible for making reasonable checks to ensure that any transponder number and silhouette provided in an application is completed correctly, legibly and the application has been signed by a member of the RCVS^[1] . The organisation can check membership using the RCVS database.

44. The silhouette should be completed using red ball point ink for marks and black ball point ink - for whorls, or by use of those colours respectively if completed electronically, taking into account the guidelines provided for by the World Equestrian Federation (FEI) or the Weatherbys. When scanning or copying silhouettes into passports, PIO’s should ensure that the scan or photocopy clearly shows all markings before it is inserted into the passport.

45. The location of the transponder on the silhouette should be marked clearly as Ⓜ.

46. Upon identification, PIO’s are obliged to issue a horse with a Unique Equine Life Number (UELN) in accordance with instructions in Annex 1 of this document.

47. A PIO must acknowledge receipt of an application for a horse passport within 15 working days. This acknowledgement must state a likely timescale for passport issue. If a passport is to be issued in less than 15 working days, then acknowledgement is not necessary.

48. Upon receipt of a correctly completed application form and where necessary completion of the breeding confirmation process, the PIO must normally issue a passport within 30 working days unless they have not received the required fees.

49. It is accepted that in exceptional circumstances, such as where an application is suspected to be fraudulent, then more time may be necessary to issue a passport.