Questions and answers about the Finnish Food Authority's dog register

More detailed information about the Finnish Food Authority's dog register and how to register the dog is available at the Finnish Food Authority’s website.

If the dog is already registered with the Finnish Kennel Club, should it also be registered in the Finnish Food Authority’s dog register?

The register of the Finnish Kennel Club is not a public register. The Finnish Food Authority's dog register is based on the Act on animal identification and registration (Laki eläinten tunnistamisesta ja rekisteröinnistä) as well as on the decree on the identification marking of dogs. These regulations appoint the Finnish Food Authority to maintain the dog register.

Information entered in the registers of the Finnish Food Authority and the Finnish Kennel Club is not identical and it is registered in different formats. For example, the kennel name of the dog is not reported to the Finnish Food Authority’s register, only the calling name.

The owner of the dog registers the dog in the Finnish Food Authority’s register and pays the registration fee. The owner reports the owner information, the identification code of the dog’s microchip, the name and address of the person who placed the microchip as well as the date when it was placed, the dog’s date of birth or an assessment of it and the home country of the dog if not Finland. In addition, the dog’s name, breed or the dog’s distinguishing features if it has no breed, gender and colour are recorded in the register.

Why can’t the dogs information be transferred directly from the Finnish Kennel Club’s register to the Finnish Food Authority’s register?

Information in the Finnish Kennel Club’s register is subject to the data protection legislation. It is only allowed to transfer identification data of the dog or its owner to another register with the authorisation of the owner.

The technical structure of the Finnish Food Authority’s dog register has been built taking into account the possibility to allow the Finnish Kennel Club and other suitable operators to send data to the public register through an interface in the future. If this is implemented, the Finnish Kennel Club aims to ensure that its members can use services through the Finnish Kennel Club’s own systems. The Finnish Kennel Club can develop its operations to meet the requirements set by the interface of the Finnish Food Authority’s dog register.

The transition period will last until 31 December 2023, which means that it is not necessary to register all dogs in the Finnish Food Authority’s dog register at the beginning of 2023. 

Why the Finnish Kennel Club has not agreed with the Finnish Food Authority on how to transfer data to the Finnish Food Authority’s register?

The Finnish Food Authority’s register is still being built. Once the basic part of the register has been completed, the Finnish Kennel Club will ask the Finnish Food Authority to clarify how the transfer from the Finnish Kennel Club’s register could take place with the authorisation of the dog’s breeder or owner.

The purpose of the Finnish Kennel Club is to ensure that those who have registered their dog with the Finnish Kennel Club can register the dog in the public register as easily as possible in the future.