The European Union has recognised Hong Kong's freedom from rabies in 2004 by including Hong Kong in the list of third countries from which the non-commercial movement of pet animals to the European Union is permitted on the basis of health certification. This resulted in a significant increase in the movement of pet animals to the European Union. The number of cats and dogs exported to the European Union in 2005 increased by 29.8 per cent over the previous year.

In 2005, the AFCD introduced a requirement that all imported dogs and cats have to be identified by a microchip. This allows the accompanying health certification with the microchip number to be matched to the individual animal.

In December, in order to strengthen measures on rabies prevention and animal welfare protection, the AFCD notified the trade and others on microchipping all dogs of all ages for trade, for the purposes of identification and origin/history-tracing.

The AFCD worked on the community dog programmes with the Animal Welfare Advisory Group throughout the year helping with neutering and anti-rabies vaccination.