Summary
Have you finally found the cat of your dreams in an approved Walloon cattery?
Are you expanding your family by adopting a dog from a shelter located in Wallonia and getting ready to go for beautiful walks this summer?
Is the hen house ready to welcome your new chickens to the garden?
From 1 July 2022, you will have to show your credentials to the breeder, shelter or business in Wallonia where you will pick up your pet.
As a private individual, you are obliged to provide an extract of the central environmental crime and animal welfare file for any purchase, adoption or donation of a pet on Walloon territory.
Which pets are affected?
All species of domestic animals intended as pets are affected if they are acquired by a private individual from a professional.
Why?
The objective is twofold:
- to prevent people who have already abused an animal from abusing others.
- to avoid impulse purchases without taking the time to think about the constraints that owning a certain animal will entail. These purchases, dictated by the emotion of the moment, too often lead to abandonment, especially during holiday time. The process of obtaining the document from the municipality will allow time for reflection and avoid such situations.
Go to your municipality to request your central file extract!
Key points
The permit: duration and price
This permit is valid for 30 days. If, after adopting or buying an animal in July, you plan to adopt another within more than 30 days, you will have to apply again to your municipality.
Each municipality can decide whether to make the document free or charge for it, and if so, it sets the price.
In detail
Any person (individual) wanting to buy, adopt or receive:
- any kind of animal intended for companionship
- from a vendor, shelter or business
- on Walloon territory
Who is entitled to this extract of the central file?
By default, any person, unless this right has been permanently or temporarily withdrawn by a judicial or administrative decision.
In which cases is the central file extract mandatory?
The extract is mandatory for the sale, adoption or donation of a pet from a professional to a private individual. This document will be required of private individuals who adopt or buy an animal on Walloon territory:
- in establishments specialising in pet sales
- in shelters
- from pet breeders
An animal's central file extract is not required in the following cases:
- the acquisition of the animal is for purely economic purposes, which implies that you are, for example, registered with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (e.g. a poultry farmer does not have to apply for a holding permit for the purchase of new poultry);
- the sale or donation of an animal between individuals, as long as it is not a dog or a cat;
- the adoption or purchase of a pet trained for specific tasks (e.g. service dog, working dog).
What are the obligations of breeders, shelters and pet shops?
Every pet shelter, business or breeder is obliged to ask you for an extract of the central file in exchange for handing over an animal. If you do not have one, you will not be able to acquire the animal you want.
They are also obliged to record, in a register, the reference of your central file extract and the extract for a period of five years
If they hand over an animal without having received your extract (and therefore without recoding it in their register), they are liable to a fine of 150 to 200,000 euros.
YOU RESIDE IN WALLONIA and want to acquire an animal from a professional on Walloon territory:
Within a maximum of 30 days before acquiring a pet, go to the offices of your municipality with an identification document.
The municipal agent will consult the central file and issue your extract of the central file, if you have not been deprived of your rights to keep a pet.
If your municipality has an e-guichet (e-counter), this document can also be sent through this channel, as long as it is authenticated by an official seal and the signature of the competent municipal authority.
The municipality may charge a fee.
YOU DO NOT RESIDE IN WALLONIA but you want to acquire an animal from a professional on Walloon territory:
Submit your request:
- by registered mail to the:
Wallonia Public Service Agriculture Natural Resources and Environment (SPW ARNE)
For the attention of the Director-General
Avenue Prince de Liège, 15
5100 Jambes (Belgium)
- by email at fichiercentral.environnement@spw.wallonie.be
Your request must mention:
- your full name
- your national register number (only if you are Belgian)
- your complete home address
The SPW ARNE will send you your central file extract within a maximum of 15 calendar days after receiving your request.
- Decree part of Book I of the Environment Code (Article D 144) - (Only available in French)
- Walloon Animal Welfare Code (Article D46) - (Only available in French)
- Regulatory part of Book I of the Environment Code (Article 100 R) - (Only available in French)
- Ministerial Circular of 13 June 2022 concerning the extract of the central file for the acquisition, adoption or purchase of an animal in accordance with Article D. 144 of Book I of the Environment Code and Article 46 of the Walloon Animal Welfare Code - (Only available in French)