Issuing and Revalidating FEI Recognition Cards
Friday 18 January 2019
On 1 October 2018 the new Equine Identification (England) Regulations 2018 came into force which replaced the Horse Passport Regulations 2009. Similar legislation for Wales and Northern Ireland is expected to come into force early 2019. In December, Defra issued their latest Minimum Operating Standards (MOPS) for all Passport Issuing Organisations (PIOs).
BEF sought clarification with regard to the changing of ownership details on the FEI Recognition Cards. In tightening up the processes to meet the regulations, DEFRA has confirmed that the ownership details must match in both the FEI Recognition Card and the national passport. This means that all owners applying for a new FEI Recognition Card or having them revalidated will need to ensure that their ownership details are correctly identified within the national passport. Owners may wish to contact the original PIO to do this but under the EU regulation, owners may approach any UK approved PIO (BEF and British Showjumping are approved). This is now possible as PIOs can access all passport records on Defra’s Central Equine Database (CED).
New ownership details in all FEI Recognition Cards previously issued by BEF and its Disciplines have been updated on CED.
Separate ownership documents
If a national passport has a separate ownership document (eg. some French passports), owners will need to go back to the original PIO to get ownership details changed and a new document issued. This should be placed in the back cover of the national passport.
A FEI Recognition Card cannot be issued if an ownership document is missing or if it is not in the same ownership as the person applying for the FEI Recognition Card.
Section IXs
BEF are no longer permitted to add section IXs to passports when issuing FEI Recognition Cards. If a national passport does not contain a section IX bound within the national document itself (not glued or stapled in), the passport is not deemed compliant. Owners must approach the original PIO for a
Duplicate or Replacement passport in accordance with Article 29 or 32 of the 2016 EU Regulation before a new FEI Recognition Card can be issued. If a horse is imported from a third country, the equine passport must be valid under EU law. If the passport does not meet requirements, the owner can apply for a Duplicate or Replacement passport.
Full FEI passports
Defra has confirmed that previous-style full FEI passports are not deemed compliant even if it is revalidated every four years without any gaps, because they do not fully meet the requirements of Part 2 of Annex I of the 2016 EU Regulation. Owners need to apply for a new national passport from an EU PIO and once obtained, the full FEI passport may be converted to a FEI Recognition Card.
For further information please contact BEF on 02476 698871 or email passports@bef.co.uk.
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