Microchipping

Microchipping

A microchip is a tiny electronic device with a unique number that can be read by a scanner and linked to your details on a database. If your dog strays, the local authority, a vet or an animal welfare organisation can scan the microchip and use the database to identify and contact you.

Remember to keep your contact details up to date on the microchip database whenever you change address or telephone number.

The Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023

By law, a keeper of a dog which is older than 8 weeks and not a certified working dog for the purposes of section 6(3) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 must ensure that it is microchipped.  

Exception to the obligation to microchip

•   A veterinary surgeon certifies, on a form approved by the Secretary of Stat, that a dog should not be microchipped for reasons relating to the health of the animal. A certificate must state the period of which the dog will be unfit to be microchipped.

An authorised person may take possession of the dog without the consent of its keeper for the purpose of checking whether the dog is microchipped. 

If the dog does not have a microchip, or the keeper details are not recorded on an approved database and is not covered by an exemption. An authorised person may serve a 21 day notice requiring the keeper to comply with the regulation. 

Failure to comply with the notice is an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine. An authorised person may also take all necessary steps to arrange for the dog to be microchipped without the consent of the keeper and recover from the keeper any costs associated with doing so. 

An authorised person for the purpose of enforcing this regulation is defined as:

• any person authorised to act on behalf of the local authority in whose area the dog is kept.
• a Police constable or a community support officer
• in this regulation, a "community support officer" means anyone so designated under section 38(1)(a) of the Police Reform Act 2002

Visit the government website for further information on microchipping.