I know that it has been a while since the agriculture community has talked about the National Animal Identification System (“NAIS”). As most of my readers know, the program is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (“APHIS”) and participation is currently voluntary. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) expressed concern over NAIS. In February 2010, Secretary Vilsack announced that the USDA was ending NAIS and was going to begin a new “flexible yet coordinated approach” that will apply only to animals moving across interstate to assist in disease control. We are all still awaiting for information regarding the new Animal Disease Traceability (“ADT”) system in order to get a clearer picture how ADT will differ from NAIS. ADT will have a focus on inspections by state veterinarians and will be more species specific and cost-effective.
For those of you who are interested in reviewing the current voluntary NAIS system, you can find a nice overview of NAIS here including a brief discussion of potential concerns: (1) confidentiality/privacy, and (2) liability. See also this presentation and this presentation. The USDA has a helpful NAIS user guide that I recommend reviewing. It gives a nice overview of NAIS and instructions for voluntarily reporting data to an Animal Tracking Database (“ATD”). It also lists steps for registering your Premise Identification Number (“PIN”), Group Identification Number (“GIN”) and/or Animal Identification Number (“AIN”). I also really enjoyed review this presentation by Elizabeth Rumley, Esq.
Curious what states have implemented animal identification law? Review this user-friendly map. This article has a nice chart of state animal identification statutes.