Get specification tests for cattle ear tags
How ear tag manufacturers and suppliers must get cattle ear tags tested to meet Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) 44:2019.
Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) are the standards for how official ear tags for cattle should perform and be tested.
If the Livestock Unique Identification Service (LUIS) support team is satisfied with the results of your welfare assessment, they’ll write to tell you that you can send your tags for PAS tests.
Do not send your tags for PAS testing until the LUIS support team tells you to. Otherwise you may have to pay extra costs.
What you need to do
Once you’ve been approved to start PAS testing, you need to ask an ISO17025 accredited laboratory to test your tags and applicators to meet PAS 44:2019 for cattle. You must pay for any costs associated with these tests.
In addition to PAS, the laboratory will check that electronic identification (EID) tags meet the bovine EID technical standards.
You can find a laboratory on the UK Accreditation Service.
Once the PAS and EID technical standards testing have been completed, send a copy of the laboratory report to the LUIS support team.
LUIS Section
Rural Payments Agency
Curwen Road
Workington
CA14 2DD
Telephone: 0345 050 9876
Find out about call charges
Email: luis@livestockinformation.org.uk
The laboratory report must contain the signature of the tester.
Your tags will not be approved until you:
- confirm in writing that you have read and will meet the cattle ear tag manufacturers and suppliers code of practice
- submit a sample of the plastic tag, containing the words ‘PAS 44’
- make any changes (if required by the LUIS support team) to your proposed marketing materials
- are given access to LUIS - this is the computer system which allocates the unique identification codes
What happens next
The LUIS support team will write to you when your tags have been either:
- approved (usually within one month of receiving the laboratory report)
- not approved (within 10 working days of receiving the laboratory report)
If your ear tags are approved
You’ll receive the access codes you will need to input tag orders onto LUIS. Your ear tags will be added to the approved ear tag manufacturers and suppliers list.
If your ear tags are not approved
The LUIS support team will tell you why your tags have not been approved, and will request any further information or testing that you may need to do. You can submit an appeal against non-approved tags within one month.
Using tags already marketed in the EU
Cattle ear tags already approved for official use in the EU, may get approved if you can demonstrate that the ear tag meets equivalent UK standards. You must provide evidence that the ear tags have been tested to the equivalent of PAS 44:2019.