A

Means of identification 1. The eartags must be applied in a position where they are easily visible at a distance. 2. The eartags and the other means of identification must contain the following characters: the first characters identify the Member State of the holding where the animal was first identified. For this purpose two-letter or three-digit country codes(1) are to be used in accordance with ISO 3166, the country code is followed by an individual one of no more than 13 digits. In addition to the information provided for in this paragraph, the competent authorities of the Member States may authorise a bar code and the addition of supplementary information by the keeper, provided that the legibility of the identification number is not affected. 3. The first means of identification referred to in Article 4(2)(a) must consist in an eartag approved by the competent authority, applied to one ear, and made of non-degradable material, tamper-proof and easy to read throughout the lifetime of the animal and designed to remain attached to the animal without being harmful to it. The eartag may not be reusable and the inscriptions provided for in point 3 must be non-removable. 4. The second means of identification referred to in Article 4(2)(b) may consist in: an eartag with the same characteristics as described in point 3, or a tattoo, except for animals involved in intra-Community trade, or solely in the case of caprine animals, a mark on the pastern, or an electronic transponder in accordance with the characteristics listed in point 6. 5. The system referred to in Article 4(2)(c) requires the identification of the animals both by holding and individually, provides for a replacement procedure where a means of identification has become illegible or has been lost, under the control of the competent authority and without compromising traceability between holdings, the objective being to control epizootic diseases, and allows the animals' movements to be traced within the national territory, with the same objective. 6. The electronic identifier must conform to the following technical characteristics: read-only passive transponders applying HDX- or FDX-B technology, complying with ISO standards 11784 and 11785, electronic identifiers must be readable by reading devices, complying with ISO standard 11785, capable of reading HDX and FDX-B transponders, the reading distance for portable readers must be a minimum of 12 cm for eartags and a minimum of 20 cm for ruminal boluses, and, for stationary readers, a minimum of 50 cm for both eartags and ruminal boluses. 7. The identification method referred to in Article 4(3) is as follows: the animals are identified by an eartag approved by the competent authority, applied to one ear, the eartag must be of non-degradable material, tamper-proof, easy to read and designed to remain attached to the animal without being harmful to it. The eartag may not be re-usable and must bear only non-removable inscriptions, the eartag must contain at least the two-letter country code and the identification code of the holding of birth. Member States using this method must inform the Commission and Member States in the framework of the Committee referred to in Article 13(1). If animals identified in accordance with this point are kept beyond the age of 12 months or are intended for intra-Community trade or export to third countries, they must be identified in accordance with points 1 to 4.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-09 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.