Current status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 January 2016
To ask the Scottish Government which local authority will be responsible for enforcing the regulations regarding the microchipping of dogs after April 2016 in cases where the ownership of the animal changes without it being microchipped and the new and old owners live in different council areas.
The Microchipping of Dogs (Scotland) Regulations 2016 have been considered by both the Delegated and Law Reform Committee, on 15 December 2015, and the Rural Affairs, Climate Change Committee, on 20 January 2015. They will be considered by the Scottish Parliament in due course. How enforcement is undertaken across territories will be a matter for local authorities.
However, if the regulations are approved, from 6 April 2016 if a dog without a microchip is passed on to a new keeper, the previous keeper will have committed an offence; the local authority in whose territory the previous keeper lives may take forward any action required in this respect. The new keeper would then become responsible for ensuring that the dog is microchipped, including registering it on a compliant database. If this is not undertaken, any local authority finding the dog without a microchip may serve a notice on the new keeper to resolve this.