USDA Cannot Regulate Microchips

Two years after Congress directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop regulations requiring that microchip scanners be capable of reading all types of pet microchips, the agency has determined that it does not have the power to mandate standardization of pet microchips or the scanners that read them.

The USDA maintains that its regulatory powers are limited: Because the Animal Welfare Act does not authorize the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to regulate private pet ownership or the retail sale of pets, APHIS cannot mandate a single national standard for pet microchips or scanners.

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