AQW 769/16-21


Mrs Naomi Long
Alliance Party
East Belfast


Tabled Date: 07/06/2016
Answered On Date: 23/06/2016
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for her assessment of current legislation to ensure that all dogs are microchipped; and to detail how her Department ensures dog owners provide up to date details.


Answer:
The control of dogs here, including the requirement for dog licensing, is legislated for by the Dogs (NI) Order 1983 (the 1983 Order) as amended by the Dogs (Amendment) Act (NI) 2011. Councils are responsible for enforcing all aspects of the legislation, including the detailed provisions on dog licensing laid down in the Dogs (Licensing and Identification) Regulations (NI) 2012 (the 2012 Regulations).
The above legislation introduced, from April 2012, a new dog licence condition requiring all dogs to be microchipped.
Once the microchipping requirements had become established, my Department amended the 2012 Regulations so that, from 1 January 2015, owners no longer had to attach a Council issued licence tag to their dog’s collar. This was achieved through the Dogs (Licensing and Identification) (Amendment) Regulations (NI) 2014.
At that time, my Department took the opportunity to clarify the legal requirement for the keeper of a dog to ensure that all information on the microchip database is up-to-date in relation to their dog. This means that if the information on the database changes at any time after it was recorded, the keeper must notify the operator of the database with the new information as soon as reasonably practicable. Failure to do so is an offence.
Council Dog Wardens have the power to scan any dog and to check its microchip details against records held by a database operator to establish the identity of the owner. They also have powers to prosecute or issue a fixed penalty to the owner of any unlicensed dog, and to attach control conditions to dog licences where an offence under the 1983 Order has been committed. A person found guilty of an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000.