Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with relevant authorities in (a) Lithuania, (b) Hungary, (c) Poland and (d) Romania on abuse of the Pet Travel Scheme and illegal importation of puppies into Great Britain.

The UK Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) discussed welfare of domestic animals in trade at the recent EU Chief Veterinary Officer’s Working Group meeting attended by all Member States on 25 October 2017. The UK CVO supported a proposal to review the existing compliance and enforcement measures of Pet Travel Scheme rules. He advised that there are many issues that drive misuse of scheme rules and enforcement is hindered by the difficulty of verifying the age of puppies at 15 weeks, opening the door to fraud.

A further discussion is planned for the EU Chief Veterinary Officer’s Working Group meeting in December 2017. The UK Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer will present findings of our targeted monitoring at ports and invite an exchange of experiences from other Member States.

Additionally, the UK CVO and Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer have had informal discussions with a number of the EU Member States on abuse of the Pet Travel Scheme. In 2016, the CVO wrote to authorities in Hungary and Poland advising that puppies from those countries, not compliant with the EU travel legislation, had been discovered in the UK. He requested an update on investigations taken in the light of the information provided.