UK Court of Appeal upholds Government policy on electronic dog collars.

R (The Electronic Collar Manufacturers Association) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2021] EWCA Civ 666

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by manufacturers of electronic dog collars in respect of the Government’s proposal to ban the use of these devices in England.

The collars in question are remote controlled and use an electric shock or noxious spray to control the animal. The proposed ban was upheld by the High Court ([2019] EWHC 2813 (Admin)) and the manufacturers appealed.

It was argued that the decision was irrational because it originated from an unreasoned change of position on the evidence in respect of the welfare implications of the devices and that there was inconsistency of treatment with other devices, and that the proposed ban was a disproportionate interference with the manufacturers’ property rights as protected under Article 1 of the First Protocol to the ECHR.

The Court of Appeal (David Richards, Henderson and Elisabeth Liang LJJ) dismissed each ground of appeal and upheld the Secretary of State’s further arguments that Article 1 of the First Protocol was not engaged on the facts.

But a spokesman for the Electronic Collar Manufacturers Association disputed the evidence and said there was a ‘growing coalition’ in support of e-collars –including vets. The National Sheep Association and the Countryside Alliance back them – as does Lord Botham, who wrote an article in the Telegraph this month in which he revealed that the Kennel Club had admitted that it had no evidence ‘of any intentional or unintentional misuse or abuse of any type of electronic training aids’.

Courtesy of HKALPO

Read The Judgment: HERE