Website of the UK government
Please note that this website has a UK government accesskeys system.
Main menu
Page menu
Home and community
Updating a horse passport and cancelling duplicates
It’s important to keep your horse passport up to date and let the Passport Issuing Organisation (PIO) know of any changes to your details. Find out when you need to contact the PIO and what to do if you have more than one horse passport.
Updating your passport when your details change
You need to inform the Passport Issuing Organisation (PIO) that issued your horse’s passport of any changes to your details. For a list of PIOs in the UK and their contact details, follow the link below.
If your horse’s passport was issued by a recognised PIO in another European Union country (including Ireland), contact the PIO directly. Their contact details should be in the passport. If not, follow the link below to find their details.
If your horse dies, you need to return the passport to the PIO that issued it within 30 days
Change of permanent address
You should tell the Passport Issuing Organisation that issued your horse’s passport if you change address permanently, within 30 days of moving.
If you sell your horse
You must not sell a horse without a horse passport and you must hand over the passport to the new owner. They should let the PIO know that they have taken ownership of the horse within 30 days.
When your horse dies
When your horse dies, you must return the passport to the PIO that originally issued it within 30 days of your horse’s death. However, if you want to keep the passport, the PIO may be able to return it to you after they have updated their records.
If your PIO has stopped trading
Since 2004, some PIOs have stopped trading, so you’ll need to have your passport updated by another PIO. Contact the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) or check the Defra website for the current list of approved PIOs.
Passports issued by the Federation Equestre Internationale
If your horse passport was issued by the Federation Equestre Internationale, you should contact the British Equestrian Federation to check it meets current requirements.
Replacing a lost horse passport
If you lose your horse passport, you can get a replacement by contacting the PIO that issued it. The PIO will give you a replacement passport, which is stamped ‘duplicate’.
By law, the declaration in ‘Section IX’ will state the horse is ‘not intended for human consumption’. This means the horse won’t enter the human food chain after it has died.
See ‘Getting a horse passport’ for more information about completing Section IX of the horse passport.
Updating older passports that don’t have a Section IX
If you have a horse passport which was issued before 28 February 2005, it won’t include a Section IX. In this case, you’ll need to contact the Passport Issuing Organisation (PIO) that issued the passport to have it updated.
What to do if you have more than one passport for the same horse
You should only have one valid passport for each horse you own. If you have duplicate passports, the process for making sure you have one valid passport depends on when they were issued.
Passports issued before 1 January 2007
If you have more than one horse passport issued before 1 January 2007, you can choose which one to keep. By law, Section IX of the passport you keep must be signed ‘not for human consumption’.
You should return the passport you don’t keep to the PIO that issued it, where it will be cancelled.
Passports issued after 1 January 2007
If you have duplicate passports for the same horse that were issued after 1 January 2007, you must keep your original horse passport. Section IX must be signed 'not intended for human consumption'. You should return the other passport to the issuing PIO so it can be cancelled.
