101 UK Brexit Notes

Connemara Programme October 16 2018 pg. 156 Breeding animals if there's no Brexit deal Purpose This notice provides information to help breed societies recognised under zootechnical legislation and related breeders and businesses get ready for changes they may need to make if the UK leaves the EU in March 2019 without a deal. The legislation applies to purebred equines, cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, hybrid breeding pigs and their germinal products. Before 29 March 2019 Zootechnical legislation facilitates trade in purebred breeding animals and their germinal products. Separate species-specific legislation is being replaced by a new streamlined regulation in November 2018. It allows breed societies to apply to be recognised and have their breeding programme approved by a member state competent authority if they meet zootechnical standards. Once recognised they are entitled to certain rights. For example, a pedigree bull from a recognised UK breed society can be automatically treated as a pedigree by an equivalent breed society in another EU member state. Purebred animals being traded and entered into another breed society register or breeding book must be accompanied by a zootechnical certificate. UK breeding programmes can also be extended into the territory of another EU member state. After March 2019 if there’s no deal In the unlikely event the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the UK would become a third country from March 2019. UK-recognised breed societies and operations involved in the trade and movement of purebred livestock and germinal products would no longer be recognised societies or operations in the EU. A recognised UK breed society or breeding operation would no longer be automatically entitled to enter their pedigree breeding animals into an equivalent breeding book in the EU and would have no right to extend a breeding programme into the EU. Existing EU legislation allows for trade with third country breed societies and operations. This provides for the European Commission to maintain a list of breeding bodies in third countries that meet certain requirements relating to equivalence of their breeding programmes and rules of procedure to those in the EU. As the Commission indicated in a notice to breeders of 21 November 2017, in a ‘no deal’ scenario UK zootechnical businesses that meet these requirements would be treated as third country breeding bodies by the EU. This would allow them to enter pedigree breeding animals into equivalent EU breeding books or registers as they can now, provided the animals are accompanied by a zootechnical certificate in accordance with the existing EU legislation. Defra will shortly contact Zootech stakeholders directly to discuss the steps they need to take to plan for March 2019, including providing any information needed to enable Defra to submit their applications for listing as third country breeding bodies to the Commission. Zootechnical certificates would continue to be issued by breed societies and breeding operations as now. The arrangements for EU-recognised breed societies and operations operating in the UK would not change initially. They would continue to have access to the UK in the same way as they do now.