IN recent years, we have all witnessed the turbo drive of digitalisation that has affected our lives. While most of us have our reservations from the amount of data that both the public and private sector can collect and often exploit us over, what is very clear is that, when it comes to traceability, digitalisation has transformed the way we go about our lives and within the business sector.

Horse Sport Ireland have recently come under a lot of public pressure to answer the sluggish turnaround times of their horse passports. Often forgetting that, without the passport, the horse - regardless of it’s ability - is worthless.

For those opting for the correct routes of travel, the requirement for the passport and delays surrounding it often lead to failed sales, and buyers are reluctant to pay for horses without a clear shipment plan. With costs of passport issuing spiralling, what can be learnt from efficiencies gained by digitalisation?

Given that the European Union has already actively supported the idea of a mass digitalisation of passports - and indeed Weatherbys is already in advanced trials - is now the time to modernise the way horses are traced on a combined system? I would argue, you can slow down the idea, but you will never stop a digital solution becoming the answer, compared with the wet stamp system.

To support the theory in answer of ‘yes’ for promoting digitalisation, let’s look at the costs of the current system. There is the physical printing and posting involved, then costs impacted on delays for DNA results. What also about the security of the passport? The owner can be vulnerable, when the physical version is handed over with a horse going into training or when given to a dealer to sell.

There’s also non-racing agreements, signing horses out of the food chain, updating vet notes, and ownership detail changes to consider. In these cases, yes, digitisation of course can offer a neat and simple solution for many.

White book

Picture this: the DNA result is pending, but export imminent. The green book can’t be offered. However, cross-border compliance cares little about what type of passport the horse has, the horse simply requires a passport. What is to stop Horse Sport Ireland issuing a white book style digital passport and then, following the DNA result, simply online switching it to the green book version? When ownership changes, the previous owner can issue the new owner with a code for log-in and, via a portal, the details can be securely changed.

Health paper validation, customs clearance, drug records and the 30-day trace are all available to the owner via a secure site, where transporters can log in and get the basic information they need to transport the horse. All for a fraction of the cost.

So why is it not happening? Simply, the authorities have given it to the private sector to solve. What can be the excuse for the delay? One excuse is the cost, there are no grants, so the passport issuer needs to see it as an investment.

However, should the passport issuers across Europe consider another model, I believe a longer-term mutually and sustainable model might appeal. Yes, the printed models would go, but easily replaced by a digital platform-based version. One where an annual subscription would apply from the passport issuer that could include the basic upload availability of the changes and then supported by targeted platform advertisement, integrated as part of the platform. Fixed costs gathered by subscription, and profit and investment collected through other means.

This would provide each element with the future proof, traceability and efficiency that today’s market not only needs, but demands. Passport digitisation is therefore not only inevitable, but serves to forge and relieve the current bottleneck that now looks for solution, but fails continually to provide the answer for.