The Government makes microchipping mandatory for dogs, cats, and ferrets

Royal Decree 986/2026, approved by the Council of Ministers on November 10 and published this Friday in the Official State Gazette, establishes the single and homogeneous system for the identification of companion animals in Spain. The regulation, promoted by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption and 2030 Agenda, makes the injectable electronic transponder—the microchip—mandatory for dogs, cats, and ferrets. It will enter into force on January 2, 2027.

The regulation develops Article 51 of Law 7/2023, of March 28, on the protection of the rights and welfare of animals, and Article 39 of Law 8/2003, of April 24, on animal health, which assigns the State the bases and coordination of a single national identification system. It is issued under Article 149.1.13, 16, and 23 of the Constitution, at the proposal of Minister Pablo Bustinduy Amador, with the opinion of the Council of State and after consultation with the autonomous communities and Ceuta and Melilla. The text consists of eight articles, two additional provisions, one transitional provision, three final provisions, and two annexes.

The European framework also carries weight: Regulation (EU) 2026/1818, of June 17, 2026, on the welfare and traceability of dogs and cats, requires all specimens of both species to be identified and registered in a database. The royal decree also cites two European Parliament resolutions, from 2016 and 2020, on compatible registration systems and the illicit trade of animals.

A subcutaneous chip before three months

Article 5 requires the injectable electronic transponder, which shall be implanted subcutaneously on the left side of the neck and, if not possible for a justified reason, preferably at the withers between the two scapulae, recording the exact location in the registry. The identification of dogs, non-EU cats, and ferrets must be carried out before three months of age and, in any case, before the first transfer.

Annex II details the technical specifications of the chips:

• Non-reusable, made of unalterable material, tamper-proof, and legible throughout the animal’s life.
• Encapsulated in biocompatible and watertight material.
• Passive read-only devices with HDX or FDX-B technology, in accordance with ISO 11784, ISO 11785, and ISO 24631-1 standards.
• 23-digit code, with the country prefix 0724 for Spain and two digits for the autonomous community or autonomous city.

The section regulating the structure of the code (Article 5.3) will not apply until January 1, 2028. EU cats will be identified in the name of the local administration in which the colony is located.

Deadlines for owners and regional registries

Article 4 sets a calendar of obligations for owners:

• Registration in the registry of the community or autonomous city of habitual residence; the same animal may not appear simultaneously in two registries.
• EU animals or animals from third countries in non-commercial movement: if they remain for more than six months, registration within a maximum of five business days from the expiration of the sixth month.
• Change of residence between communities without transfer of ownership: registration in the destination registry within one month of arrival.
• Transfer of the animal: notification to the registry within three business days.
• Death of the animal: deregistration within seven business days.
• Illegible chip: implantation of a new one with the same code, with registration of the duplicate number.

The autonomous communities will have twelve months from the entry into force to adapt their registries to the content of Annex I and to SICERPA; owners will have another twelve months from that adaptation to update their data. The history of owners shall be kept for at least 25 years from identification or five years after the notification of death.

Hunting, herding, and security: what is excluded

The preamble recalls that animals for sporting activities, falconry birds, livestock guardian and herding dogs, rescue dogs in professional environments, security animals, assisted intervention animals, and pack hunting dogs and hunting assistants are excluded from the scope of Law 7/2023 and are only subject to regional regulations. The regulation incorporates them, however, “for animal health reasons,” into the identification system, and for them, the sanctioning regime is that of Law 8/2003, not that of the animal welfare law.

Annex I provides for eight categories for animals associated with human activities: assisted intervention, hunting use, non-hunting sports, experimentation, assistance dog, livestock guardian and herding dog, rescue dog, and security dog. Owners of hunting dogs and ferrets must provide the hunting license, and owners of herding or guardian dogs, the code from the General Registry of Livestock Holdings.

Banding for birds and tags for the rest

Companion birds shall be identified by banding, with a closed ring placed by the breeder; sports federations and selection and breeding associations may be authorized to identify them. Microchips will only be permitted in birds when their health is at risk or rings cannot be placed, and specimens weighing less than 50 grams will require a veterinary certificate. For the rest of the species, the type of identification will be determined by ministerial order, following a report from the Scientific and Technical Committee for the Protection and Rights of Animals.

Animals already identified prior to the entry into force shall retain their original medium, unless it ceases to be legible. Dogs assigned to the ministries of Defense and Interior may be registered in their own systems, with exceptions provided for in the second additional provision.

The regulation homogenizes for the first time the registration of companion animals across the entire country and transfers an obligation with specific deadlines to the owners: anyone who adopts or buys a dog, a cat, or a ferret from January 2027 must register it and keep its data updated, with the chip as the unique traceability key against abandonment, illegal breeding, and the transmission of diseases such as rabies.

Source: Official State Gazette, no. 283, November 13, 2026, Sec. I. General provisions, page 153076 (official reference: BOE-A-2026-23763).