The reason for this letter is to clarify several important points:     

      With the coming into effect of the new European regulations for equine identification (Regulation (CE) 504/2008 by the Commission dated the 6th of June, 2008), it is absolutely essential for us to take into account new deadlines for actions, because the new regulations are extremely strict for us with regards to the deadlines for issuing passports. This also affects all those countries outside the European Union, as we are the organization that handles the breed. 

      First of all, we must insist that you send us the blood samples to Spain as soon as possible.  This must be done even if the service, in the actual program, is still pending the field work.  This way, our laboratory can start working on the sample and perform the DNA extraction, while you are working on moving the horse to the pending lab work slot.   

      From now on, the deadlines we must comply with for the procedure are as follows:

      *     Breeders must request the registration of the horses as soon as possible, at the very latest, before the foal is one (1) month old.       

      *     Next, you have a maximum of 30 days from when you receive the application for service from the breeder so that the veterinarian can draw the blood and complete the description and send the blood to Spain and you move the service to pending laboratory in the program. We are well aware that this time span is extremely limiting, but the regulations outline very strict deadlines.  

      *     The laboratory has 21 days in which to perform the DNA analysis and parentage tests.      

      *     The LG-PRE-ANCCE Stud Book office has another 21 days to issue, print out and mail the passport.  

      With these MAXIMUM dealines, 3 months and 10 days have already gone by, which leaves us with almost three months to correct any possible parentage errors, lack of DNA of one of the progenitors, etc.      

      Thank you for your collaboration. We must all pull together to avoid hindrances for the breeders in each of our countries.  

      Yours sincerely,