Question 17927 — animals

Summary

Mr. Alexandre Dufosset draws the attention of the Minister of Agriculture, Agri-Food and Food Sovereignty to the circumvention of the rules governing the online sale of dogs by means of advertisements presented as donations. Professional dog breeders are subject to significant health, administrative, fiscal and social obligations, intended in particular to guarantee the traceability of animals, their well-being and the protection of buyers. They must bear the cost of regulatory installations, animal identification, veterinary care as well as, for purebred dogs registered in the French Book of Origins (LOF), the formalities and examinations necessary for monitoring litters and preventing hereditary diseases. However, many advertisements published on online platforms officially offer puppies or dogs “ to give”, while requiring interested people to pay “adoption fees” which can reach several hundred euros. When this payment constitutes a condition for surrender of the animal and exceeds the reimbursement of real and duly justified expenses, this practice appears to be able to conceal a transfer for consideration. This process would allow certain individuals to regularly sell animals without having the required status, without paying social security contributions and corresponding taxes and without respecting the health and reporting obligations applicable to breeders. It thus creates unfair competition with declared professionals, while presenting risks in terms of animal welfare, consumer protection, tax fraud and the fight against abandonment. Article L. 214-8 of the rural and fishing code maritime provides that the online transfer for consideration of pets can only be carried out by people carrying out authorized activities. Article L. 214-8-2 also requires platforms disseminating offers for the sale of domestic carnivores to control certain information relating to the animal and to label the advertisements. Nevertheless, resorting to the qualification of “gift” seems to make it possible to circumvent these devices when payment is only revealed after contacting the advertiser. The MP therefore asks the Minister if the Government considers that the delivery of an animal subject to the obligatory payment of “adoption fees” constitutes a transfer for consideration, regardless of the name used by the advertiser. He would also like to know the number of controls and sanctions that took place during the recent years concerning such hidden sales as well as the means mobilized by the departmental population protection directorates to detect them. Finally, he asks what measures it intends to take, in conjunction with the general directorate for competition, consumption and the repression of fraud, the tax administration, the agricultural social mutuality and the platforms concerned, in order to comply with existing regulations and, where applicable, better regulate the sums that may be requested in the event of a transfer presented as free.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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