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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he will publish his Department’s plans on how to implement EU Equine Passport Regulation – (EU) No. 2015/262; and whether his Department has developed alternative proposals for when the UK leaves the EU.

The EU Equine Passport Regulation, (EU) No. 2015/262, applies directly to the UK. Secondary legislation supplements and makes provision for its enforcement. Defra was responsible for introducing The Equine Identification (England) Regulations 2018, SI 2018 No. 761, which came into force on 1 October 2018.

Since then, the Equine Identification (England) (EU Exit) regulations 2018 (SI 2018 No. 1409) and The Equine (Records, Identification and Movement)(Amendment)(EU Exit) Regulations 2019 have been introduced in order to make the necessary technical changes to retained EU legislation so that equine records, movements and identification remain operable upon the UK leaving the EU.