The AGRI Committee of the European Parliament has missed a historic opportunity to take decisive action on the illegal trade of cats and dogs. Instead of delivering the enforceable rules that cats and dogs, consumers, and responsible breeders urgently need, today’s vote resulted in a watered-down text that leaves the well-known, gaping loopholes unaddressed. The AGRI Report protects no one — except illegal traders. 

Despite the proposed Regulation’s stated objectives — ensuring the smooth functioning of the internal market for dogs and cats, improving dog and cat traceability, and guaranteeing minimum animal welfare standards — the AGRI Committee has voted against the measures that would end the illegal pet trade.  

Let us be clear on what the AGRI Committee decided upon: 

• It rejected mandatory identification and registration (I&R) for all cats and dogs, refusing to establish the link between animals and those responsible for them.
• It refused to ensure that animals owned by farmers and “small” breeders—or those who claim to be, have unrestricted access to clean, fresh water, sufficient food, safe and hygienic living conditions, and protection from adverse weather, injury, abuse, abandonment, permanent tethering, inbreeding, or killing. Those broad exemptions granted to so-called “small breeders”, serve as a loophole, as this label is likely to be exploited to bypass even the most basic welfare rules, leaving the backdoor wide open for unregulated breeding and animal cruelty.
• It only went halfway in ensuring animal and seller traceability in online sales, the main route through which animals are illegally sold today.

In doing so, MEPs have given the green light to illegal breeders and sellers to keep operating uninterrupted.  These loopholes have been exploited for years by illegal traders who act under the radar, in the guise of private keepership or small breeding activity. This vote did nothing to stop that. 

This outcome flies in the face of overwhelming expert and stakeholder consensus, specifically on the need for mandatory identification and registration for all dogs and cats. Alongside Animal Health Europe, the Federation of Companion Animal Veterinary Associations (FECAVA), the European Pet Food Industry Federation (FEDIAF), the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) EUROPETNET, the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) and over 60 other organisations (NGOs, Kennel Clubs, databases, online platforms) (...); FOUR PAWS called for mandatory I&R for all dogs and cats in the EU in an  open letter sent to all involved MEPs. Our message was clear: without full traceability, there is no way to stop the illegal pet trade. 

The European Commission itself has acknowledged the value of I&R in  preventing fraud and illegal pet trade happening under the guise of non-commercial movement. The AGRI Committee, however, doesn’t seem to have gotten the memo. 

“We urge the European Parliament to correct course. The upcoming Plenary vote is the last chance to do what today’s vote failed to: close the loopholes, mandate identification and registration for all cats and dogs, apply basic welfare rules to every breeder — no exceptions, and guarantee full traceability in online sales. In short, it needs to live up to the Regulation’s own stated objectives”, concludes Georgia Diamantopoulou, Head of FOUR PAWS’ European Policy Office.