Dogs banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act are legally required to hold an exemption. Currently England & Wales, Scotland and NI manage their own exemption schemes with no cross recognition. This means dogs cannot be brought to another part of the UK for example to visit for leisure.

In our view, dog owners who have taken the responsible decision to comply with the law are unduly affected because the government are not taking steps to address the lack of cross border recognition of exemption certificates. I call for the government to start the process to recognise the certificates for those of the devolved nations and to negotiate their recognition of exemption certificates issued in England & Wales.