Regulation No. 200/1998 on livestock marks, mark registers and restrictions on identical marking of livestock.

This regulation sets out Icelandic rules on livestock marks, mark registers and restrictions on identical or confusingly similar livestock markings. It requires livestock owners to have clear marks on their animals and regulates several types of marks, including microchips, freeze marks, branding marks, plate marks and ear marks. It contains detailed rules on ear marks for sheep, branding and plate marks, colour marking of sheep by disease-control/protection zones, and microchipping of horses for origin registration and proof of ownership. It also regulates who may own and register a mark, how marks may be transferred by inheritance, sale or gift, how new marks are registered, and how mark registers must be prepared, published and updated.
The regulation’s broader purpose is to ensure reliable identification, ownership control, traceability and disease-control management of livestock, especially sheep, goats, horses and cattle. It prohibits identical marks within relevant grazing or sheep-roundup districts, establishes detailed geographical rules to prevent duplicate marks between districts, and requires doubtful or unclear sheep marks to be dealt with strictly. It assigns responsibilities to mark wardens, district authorities, the Farmers’ Association of Iceland and a mark committee, including resolving disputes and maintaining computerised records. The annexes include lists and illustrations of authorised ear marks, tables of livestock colour-marking zones, and a map of Iceland’s livestock colour-marking disease-control/protection areas.