The Cypriot government is preparing yet another amending bill on the regulation of dogs, after parliament passed two counter-amendments in May that reversed several key provisions of the government’s own law — including one that gives police and the Game and Fauna Service the power to kill stray animals at their discretion.
According to Phileleftheros sources, the government has already begun drafting the new bill as part of its animal welfare policy, aimed at more effectively regulating what has been legislated so far. The move comes amid widespread concern among animal welfare organisations and hunters’ groups over the contradictory state of the legislation following amendments passed on two separate dates: April 8 and May 12, 2026.
What the government’s law did
The government’s amending law — N. 56(I)/2026, published in the Official Gazette on April 8, 2026 — introduced a series of measures aimed at reducing dog abandonment and controlling the stray population after four years of parliamentary discussion.
Its key provisions included a ban on the euthanasia of healthy dogs except in cases involving health or danger (Article 15); full legal recognition of assistance dogs and the access rights of those who use them (Articles 2, 3 and 13); mandatory microchipping of all dogs from the age of two months — the age recommended by specialists as appropriate for weaning and adoption — with the aim of preventing abandonment (Article 5); an obligation to declare a dog’s death within seven working days with a veterinary certificate (Article 5); mandatory collar with metal ID tag (Article 8); mandatory lead in public spaces (Article 9); and mandatory waste collection in public spaces (Article 9).
The law also enhanced the powers of local authorities to impose out-of-court fines (Articles 17–22), exempted assistance dogs and one sterilised dog belonging to a low-pension recipient from the annual registration fee, and introduced differentiated fees designed to discourage unsterilised ownership.
Registration fees for sterilised dogs rose from €20.50 to €24, while the fee for unsterilised dogs was set at €120. Fees for dangerous breeds — Pit Bull Terrier, Japanese Tosa, Dogo Argentino, Fila Brasileiro and their crosses, which remain subject to mandatory liability insurance and enhanced restraint measures — rose from €170 to €240 for sterilised animals. Breeding fees for commercial purposes increased from €83.14 to €200 per litter, and from €33.25 to €100 per litter for other purposes.
What parliament reversed
On May 12, 2026, parliament published two further amending bills that had originated as parliamentary proposals. The government had recommended they be referred back, warning that they represented a dangerous deviation from the principles underpinning the original legislation. Parliament rejected that recommendation.
The first, N. 118(I)/2026 (Amendment No. 2), made sweeping changes. Most critically, it gives police and the Game and Fauna Service the power to kill stray animals at their discretion where immediate and uncontrolled damage to wildlife or livestock premises is established — a provision that has drawn sharp criticism from animal welfare groups. The amendment also moved the mandatory microchipping age back from two months to six, a change widely criticised as undermining early control during the critical weaning period.
The differentiated fee structure was scrapped entirely, with a uniform registration fee of €20.50 restored for both sterilised and unsterilised dogs, and €170 for dangerous breeds. The powers of local authorities were reduced to registration and the forwarding of information only, with trapping and collection transferred to central authorised services: Veterinary Services, authorised contractors and police. The out-of-court fines procedure was eliminated in its entirety. Breeding fees were also cut, from €200 to €85 per litter for commercial purposes and from €100 to €35 for other purposes.
The second, N. 119(I)/2026 (Amendment No. 3), introduced a special category for hunting dogs, with an annual fee of €24 per dog for up to four dogs, subject to the owner holding a hunting licence and registering on the Game Service platform, with no differentiation based on sterilisation status. It also set out general fees of €24 for sterilised dogs, €120 for unsterilised dogs and €240 for dangerous breeds.
A long road to legislation
The process of amending the Dogs Law of 2002 — whose oversight and enforcement responsibility lies with local authorities — began at the Interior Ministry in 2012. In 2015, following disagreements during parliamentary debate, the Environment Committee returned the bill to the ministry for further study by the Law Office and Veterinary Services. The Council of Ministers approved a new bill in March 2017, but the Environment Committee deemed the consultation insufficient in May of that year and ordered a new round of consultations coordinated by the Commissioner for Volunteerism and NGOs.
Veterinary Services subsequently conducted a formal written consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including local authorities, the Union of Municipalities, the Union of Communities, district animal welfare committees, the Pancyprian Veterinary Association, the Veterinary Council, hunters’ groups and animal welfare organisations. The final government amending bill was submitted to parliament in 2022 by the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment.
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