The TPA was set up with the intention of facilitating the transport of equines between France, Ireland and the UK - specifically that of racehorses, competition horses and bloodstock. The TPA allows horses to travel without health checks as long as they are accompanied by a passport, and at the time the agreement was drawn up, few horses had passports apart from the three categories mentioned above. However, now all horses are obliged by EU law to have passports, the TPA now exempts a lot more equines than envisaged in the original agreement.

With the changes in each country’s legislation, and the improvement in road quality and commercial vehicles, some of the legislation needs to be reviewed.

It is important that the proposed changes still allow the free travel of those animals that the TPA was originally set up to benefit, but closes the loophole that now allows any animal with a passport to be imported/exported without health checks. The agreement needs to be amended to clarify what constitutes a ‘registered’ horse now that all EU equines are passported. It is this ’loophole’ which has allowed the import into the UK of meat chain horses from France without health checks, and the easy export of horses from the UK to France for meat.

New regulations could be drafted to ensure that unrestricted travel is only granted to the three main groups the TPA was originally intended to cover; racehorses, competition horses and bloodstock.

The simplest way to do this would be to remove the reference to ‘registered horses’ and replace that with a requirement that a horse is accompanied by the documents detailed below:

RACEHORSES
All registered throughbred horses in Ireland and the UK have a Weatherbys passport.
French throughbreds (pur sang) are registered with the HARAS NATIONAUX, which is recognised by Weatherbys as the valid French passporting office for the French bred racehorse. However, there needs to be additional documentation to prove that the horse is in training and is travelling to a race meeting - this would be easy to see with proof of entries and passport marked on arrival at venue. If the horse is being imported following its sale, then a ‘bill of sale’ would be required.

BLOODSTOCK
This category covers breeding stock travelling to stud. This is slightly more complicated and a sensible solution needs to be considered. Unlike the sports horse industry, the Thoroughbred stud books do not accept Artificial Insemination, and the coverings must be natural. Therefore there is more traffic of Thoroughbred stallions and broodmares than of any other breed. This could easily be validated with a document endorsed by the stud standing the stallions. There could possibly be a form requiring confirmation from the stud that the mare is booked in, and then has left following covering. This could be Weatherbys driven, both for horses coming to the UK to be covered and going abroad to be covered. These regulations would be applied to ALL breeding stock, whatever the breed.

COMPETITION HORSES
All horses that compete internationally are required to have an FEI passport, so this would be the documentation required for unrestricted travel, along with proof of entries from the governing body and passport marked on arrival at venue. If the horse is being imported following its sale, then a ‘bill of sale’ would be required.

If these are the only horses covered by the TPA, then the present loophole that allows ANY passported animal to travel legally without health checks will be closed which will both help protect the UK equine populated from incoming diseases and will also reduce the number of animals imported when not ‘fit to travel’.