EPO raises its concern on the handling of the EU proposal for new rules on the welfare & traceability of dogs and cats
EPO issued a statement to raise its sector concern on the handling of the EU proposal for new rules on the welfare and traceability of dogs & cats – following the adoption of its opinion by the European Parliament ENVI Committee on April 8th, 2025.
EPO is now calling the members of the EP AGRI Committee, responsible on this file, to acknowledge its sector’s concerns while this file is being finalised.
In its statement, EPO mentions:
“Whilst we would all wish to strengthen the welfare and protection of dogs and cats within the European Union and those imported from third countries, we do not consider that the key elements proposed in this Opinion serve to significantly strengthen such welfare but may actually detract from it.
In particular, the proposal for evaluation of an EU-wide positive list of pet species, which only serves to detract and diminish from the regulatory objectives sought which solely pertain to dogs and cats. Any attempt to use this draft Regulation to provide the legal framework to establish an EU-wide positive list of pet species is considered to be a gross misappropriation of the draft Regulation and in itself is a key shortcoming in that we consider positive lists to be a negative solution for protecting the welfare needs of companion animals and protecting the health of animals, humans and the environment under a One Health approach.
Should the Rapporteur’s Opinion be in relation to dogs and cats, then it should remain solely to dogs and cats i.e. the subject of this draft Regulation and the objective in ensuring traceability to prevent the illegal pet trafficking of dogs and cats. Rather than deviating to matters which are not within the intended scope and which would require a systematic change and likely be in breach of WTO trading rules.
Recourse to a One Health approach fails to recognise that the central tenet of One Health is teamwork i.e. interdisciplinary approaches involving stakeholders who are traditionally siloed from each other to benefit animal, human and environmental health, recognising their inter-relatedness and inter-connectedness. One Health also promotes education and in this instance, the desired outcome of this draft Regulation is to ensure traceability of dogs and cats entering the Union and intra-EU movement and to prevent spontaneous purchases, especially via online trade whereby such purchases are literally ‘one click away’. The key elements expressed in this Opinion do not represent a holistic approach but achieve the exact opposite in being narrow, limited and restrictive, as well as being potentially unworkable and unenforceable.
Last but not least, our sector is also concerned about the consequences of the call made in this opinion to ban the sales of dogs and cats from pet stores. While going against the proposal’s principles setting at its core traceability and the transfer of responsible pet ownership, it also directly bans a horizontal economic activity at EU level. A critical step when the proposal aims to cover the full chain of custody from breeders to pet owners, and securing traceability”.
The complete statement can be read here.
