Livestock farmers must identify all their livestock before October 27

The National Animal Health Service (SENASA) has set the rules for livestock farmers who have not yet identified their herd: the transitional period expires on October 26, 2026, and as of the 27th, cattle without an Official Individual Identification Device (DIIO) may not be moved outside the livestock establishment. This provision is contained in resolution SENASA-DG-R00029-2026, published in La Gaceta No. 200 on Thursday, October 22, 2026, in the Miscellaneous Documents section.

The resolution was issued by the General Directorate of SENASA, an organ of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, at eight-thirty hours on October 12, 2026, and bears the signature of the general director Luis Alberto Matamoros Cortés. It is based on Law No. 8495, General Law of the National Animal Health Service, and Executive Decree No. 44336-MAG-S-SP-MOPT, which created the National System for Individual Identification and Traceability of Bovine Livestock and reformed the Regulations to the Law for the Control of Bovine Livestock, Prevention and Punishment of its Theft, Larceny, and Receiving.

The immediate precedent is Executive Decree No. 45675-MAG-S-SP-MOPT, which reformed various provisions of the creation decree and opened a transitional period to incorporate unidentified animals. Subsequently, Executive Decree No. 45789-MAG-S-SP-MOPT reformed Transitional Provision I and granted a six-month period for owners or responsible parties to request official registration before SENASA, the MAG, or officialized third parties. That deadline expires on October 26, 2026.

Exceptional one-time regularization

Article 1 of the resolution allows those responsible for establishments with cattle older than six months without official identification to request identification and registration from SENASA one single time, as an exceptional sanitary regularization measure. To this end, the health authority will issue a sanitary order that will individualize the establishment and set the conditions under which the identification will be carried out.

Identification and registration shall be performed exclusively by SENASA personnel and by those officialized under the SENASA-OIRSA Agreement, who must verify compliance with the requirements of Executive Decree No. 44336-MAG-S-SP-MOPT, the existence of the animals, and their link to the establishment.

Cost of ¢1,832 per animal and authorized providers

The owner, possessor, or responsible party must previously pay SENASA the fee for code G.08.01, “Individual animal identification service for individual traceability, import, and export purposes,” provided for in Executive Decree No. 27763-MAG and in the tariff list approved by resolution SENASA-DG-R-00005-2026.

• Amount: ¢1,832.00 per animal to be identified, or the rate in effect at the time the service is provided.
• Acquisition of the DIIO: at the expense of the interested party and only through duly authorized providers.
• Prerequisite: the issuance of a sanitary order by SENASA, under the direct control of that authority.

The sanitary order does not authorize mobilization

Article 4 of the resolution is explicit: the issuance of a sanitary order to regularize an adult bovine does not authorize its mobilization. The animal must remain at the establishment until it has been effectively identified with the DIIO and officially registered in the National System for Individual Identification and Traceability of Bovine Cattle.

The competent departments of SENASA must establish the operational mechanisms to verify compliance and maintain records of the sanitary orders issued and the animals regularized. The resolution will be communicated to the national and regional directorates of SENASA, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the livestock mobilization control authorities, slaughterhouses, livestock auctions, and sector organizations.

Article 7 clarifies that this exceptional procedure does not constitute an enlargement, extension, or prolongation of the transitional period, and Article 8 establishes that the resolution takes effect as of October 27, 2026.

The impact is direct for livestock activity: without a DIIO, no movement of animals is possible, which affects auctions, transfers to slaughter plants, and sales between farms. Regularization is the last available window, has a cost per head, and does not suspend the requirements of the framework decree.

Source: La Gaceta, No. 200 of October 22, 2026, Miscellaneous Documents — Agriculture and Livestock, p. 8 (official reference: SENASA-DG-R00029-2026, IN202601133980).