Recital 3

(3)Commission Regulation (EC) No 504/2008 ³ , which is applicable since 1 July 2009, lays down rules on the identification of equidae born in or imported into the Union, and sets out an identification document (equine passport) for equidae which is a multipurpose document serving animal and public health as well as zootechnical and equestrian sport's needs. With the focus on the identification document as the constitutive element of the equine identification system, that Regulation only provides for the option to incorporate the information contained in the databases of numerous issuing bodies into a central database or to network their databases with that central database.