Changes to dog licensing

PuppyWonder

My local Council has announced the following -

"From 1 January 2015, you will no longer be issued with a dog licence tag.

Instead dogs must wear an identification tag with their microchip number and the owner’s name, address and telephone number.

Dog owners can apply for a dog licence online or by post".

To find out more about the changes to dog licensing, visit http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/…/dogcontrol…/doglicences.aspx

With such emphasis on the "DATA PROTECTION ACT" many dog owners are wondering if the Council can enforce this??

Our dogs are already chipped, and do wear tags, but not with the full details of the owners visible for all and sundry to view. Hundreds of dog owners are objecting to the new tag laws. Refusal to comply will result in hefty fines! Many say they are prepared to pay the fines, rather than reveal their names and telephone numbers. If the dog tags get lost, our personal details get lost too...and this is a worry for many! Surely this would be in breach of what the Data Protection Act stipulates, regarding safeguarding our personal data??? What is the definition of "PERSONAL INFORMATION" ?? The EU Data Protection Article states - "Definitions of Personal Information
The following are definitions related to personal information:
• European Directive 95/46/EC: Personal Data3
. “Shall mean any information relating to an
identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable person is one who can be
identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identification number or to one or
more factors specific to his physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural, or social
identity…"
The information they are telling us to put on our dog tags, would certainly identify us (natural persons), directly! Plain and simple, they are asking us to display and reveal our PERSONAL INFORMATION to all and sundry! Hundreds of dog owners are very unhappy about this.

EssexExile

We don't have dog licences in the rest of the UK.

Marktheshark

EssexExile wrote: »

We don't have dog licences in the rest of the UK.

Because in the 70's people had a bit of backbone and ignored it.
These days they would have no trouble re-introducing it.

Marmaduke123

Marktheshark wrote: »

Because in the 70's people had a bit of backbone and ignored it.
These days they would have no trouble re-introducing it.

Surprised this hasn't already happened. Good for £50 pounds per year per dog at least. A drop in the ocean compared to the cost of owning a dog now.

Mojisola

PuppyWonder wrote: »

My local Council has announced the following -

"From 1 January 2015, you will no longer be issued with a dog licence tag.

Instead dogs must wear an identification tag with their microchip number and the owner’s name, address and telephone number.

The information they are telling us to put on our dog tags, would certainly identify us (natural persons), directly! Plain and simple, they are asking us to display and reveal our PERSONAL INFORMATION to all and sundry! Hundreds of dog owners are very unhappy about this.

This is what we have to do now so I don't think you'd get anywhere complaining -
http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/training/good-citizen-dog-training-scheme/information-for-dog-owners

Control of Dogs Order 1992
Every dog while on a public highway or place of public resort must wear a collar with the name and address of the owner inscribed on it or a plate or badge attached to it.

PuppyWonder

Just wondering, if the "Control of Dogs Order" was introduced in 1992, and this was before the Data Protection Act came in, in 1998, has the Dogs Order been amended since the Data Protection Act came in?

In my neck of the woods, even when we complete a Dog License Application form, we include our names, addresses and telephone numbers, but, at the bottom of the form it states -

"DATA PROTECTION ACT 1998 Ards Borough Council collects the data on this form for the purposes of the management and application of the Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 (as amended). This data will be handled and used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. In accordance with S15 of the Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 (as amended) the Council holds details of all dog licences on a register. Please note that the public have a right of inspection of this register".

So from this, it is clear that our personal details are handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act. Yet, our details, can now be freely added to a very visible dog tag?? This is information which is considered confidential in our workplace, but it's ok to make it available on a dog tag??

PlymouthMaid

I haven't heard anything about a dog licence round here - thought they were abolished years ago.

hollydays

Our mutt has our mobile number and our landline inscribed on a dog tag.no room for any thing else .
You are in Northern Ireland? Is there a bad history of animal abuse?

This is in case it gets lost( very poor mobile signal where we live).
That would be my only concern. Who cares about our name.

Mojisola

PuppyWonder wrote: »

Yet, our details, can now be freely added to a very visible dog tag?? This is information which is considered confidential in our workplace, but it's ok to make it available on a dog tag??

It's not all that visible - someone has to get hold of your dog and then keep him/her still enough to be able to pull the dog tag round to where the details can be read.

elsien

If I lost my dog I'd be more than happy for the requested details to be on the dog tag. I really don't see what the problem is in that respect. What can someone do with my surname (first name isn't required) and address that they can't already get off the electoral register if I haven't opted out? And a mobile number isn't exactly an ID theft risk - I have two phone numbers on Gitdog's, mine and my mum's. (I like to cover all the bases!)

As far as dog licences go, I don't have one and wasn't aware that councils still did them.

hollydays

Lack of prosecutions for animal cruelty in northern Ireland.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/4000-acts-of-horrific-animal-cruelty-in-northern-ireland-but-just-one-court-case-29745602.html