As of April 21, 2021, the European Animal Health Regulation will enter into force in the Netherlands, making the identification and registration (I&R) of horses a lot more restrictive. In practice, this means that as of April 21, there will be a registration requirement for both recreational and professional horses, so that the government has insight into the number of horses per location. This is important in order to have a better overview in the future in case of an outbreak of a contagious disease such as African horse disease.

All horses kept in the Netherlands must be registered in the Dutch database. Also horses with a foreign passport. Holders of horses with a foreign passport must have this passport registered with a Dutch passport issuing authority such as the KWPN within 30 days of issue or within 30 days of the horse arriving in the Netherlands from another member state or from a country outside the EU. You can apply for this through the form below. After receiving your application, we will check whether the passport meets the requirements and supply the identification details to the central database.

NOTE: Separate rules apply to horses which are temporarily in the Netherlands in connection with import and export. More information can be found on the website of the RVO.