The 2016 Dog Microchipping Law Explained
Compulsory dog microchipping never lapsed; one set of regulations simply handed over to another, and a dog chipped under the old rules still meets the law today.
If you’ve had a letter, read a headline or you’re just checking you’re on the right side of the rules, this page is for you. The law that made dog microchipping compulsory has since been replaced, but what you have to do as a dog owner hasn’t changed.
When dog microchipping became compulsory
The regulations carry 2015 in their title, which is why people often date the law to 2015. The Microchipping of Dogs (England) Regulations 2015 were made in 2015, but the duty itself started on 6 April 2016. From that date, every keeper of a dog over eight weeks old in England had to make sure it was microchipped (the keeper, meaning the person the dog lives with). Wales and Scotland brought in the same requirement on the same date under their own regulations.
The rules differ in places across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our page on dog microchipping law across the UKsets those out.
What the 2015 regulations asked of dog owners
The 2015 rules made “microchipped” mean two things together: a compliant chip implanted in the dog, and the owner’s details recorded on a compliant database. A chip with no registration behind it did not count.
You could not pass a dog on to a new keeper unless it had been microchipped or had a vet’s exemption certificate. When a dog changed hands, the new keeper had to record their own name, address and phone number on the database, unless the previous keeper had already done it. One thing the 2015 regulations did not do, and neither does their replacement, is create a separate offence of failing to update your details after a move.
If your dog wasn’t chipped, you’d first get a 21-day notice to sort it, and ignoring that notice was an offence in England with a fine of up to £500. The full picture on enforcement, including chipping without consent and cost recovery, is in our guide to microchipping penalties. For the exemptions themselves, see our page on microchipping law exemptions.
Why the 2015 rules were replaced
The 2015 regulations were never written to last. As made, they said they would cease to have effect at the end of seven years from the day they came into force. An amendment in February 2022 extended that to nine years, and then the Microchipping of Cats and Dogs (England) Regulations 2023 revoked them altogether.
The 2023 regulations were made on 25 April 2023, with the dog provisions commencing shortly after. Unlike the 2015 version, the 2023 regulations contain no cut-off date; instead, they must be reviewed within five years.
So if a headline told you the dog microchipping law had lapsed or ended, that is not what happened. One set of regulations ran its course and another took over the same ground in England, for cats as well as dogs. The overview of both species is in our guide to UK microchipping law: the rules for dogs and cats.
What changed in 2023, and what stayed the same
For a dog owner, very little changed, and nothing you need to redo. A dog chipped and registered under the 2015 rules meets the current law. The 2023 regulations kept the over-eight-weeks threshold, the working dog exception and the vet’s health certificate exemption. The level of fines for keepers stayed the same.
What changed is mostly wording. Assistance dogs in training are now expressly covered: the training body counts as the keeper while the dog is training to work, or working, as an assistance dog.
Responsibility for chipping a puppy was also reworded. Under the 2015 rules it sat with the owner of the bitch that gave birth to it. Under the 2023 rules it sits with the owner of the puppy’s mother for a puppy that has not yet left its mother.
The clearest practical addition concerns imported dogs. A keeper who brings a dog into England must have it microchipped within 30 days of its entry. The 2023 text makes explicit that this applies whatever the dog’s age.
Keeping the record current
Whichever regulations your dog was chipped under, the part that stays with you is the record behind the chip. Around 14% of stray dogs have a chip that was never registered on a compliant database, and a record left in a previous owner’s name or on a database you’ve lost sight of fails a scan the same way. Checking the record is in your name, on a database you can log in to, with your current phone number and address, is what carries forward between house moves, new phones and a change of regulations.
If your dog still needs a chip, our dog microchipping page covers how to arrange it, and our register a microchip page shows what to do once it is in. You can add the record on Pet Database in your name.
