Art. 5 Ordinance of October 31, 2012, on Animal Breeding (ABO) - Conditions

An organization is recognized upon request as a breeding organization for each breed or population of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, Asian buffaloes, rabbits, poultry, New World camelids, or honey bees when it: a. is designed as a mutual aid organization and is composed of active breeders; b. possesses legal personality and its headquarters are located in Switzerland; c. has legally valid statutes enabling, provided the statutory conditions are met, the affiliation of: 1. any breeder, and 2. any breeding association and any breeding syndicate, provided that collective members are foreseen; d. has specific breeding goals to conduct breeding with a breed and a population, justified by a breeding program; e. manages a single centralized herd book that maintains records concerning the breeds or populations in accordance with Art. 7; f. conducts performance tests in accordance with Art. 8; g. conducts breeding value estimates in accordance with Art. 9; h. conducts genetic evaluations in accordance with Art. 10 in lieu of breeding value estimates, insofar as the size of a breed or population is not sufficiently significant and a breeding value estimate is not scientifically justifiable according to the prevailing zootechnical standards; i. has a sufficiently large stock of a breed or population to conduct an improvement program or to guarantee preservation work for the breed; j. ensures the correct execution, from the staff, technical, organizational, and financial perspectives, of zootechnical activities, and maintains a unique accounting system for the zootechnical measures of all managed breeds and populations; k. carries out its zootechnical activities neutrally and in accordance with generally recognized international standards; l. if it manages a subsidiary herd book, respects the principles established by the organization managing the herd book regarding the origin of the horse breed.

An organization is not recognized as a breeding organization for a specific breed if one or more organizations are already recognized for that same breed and recognition may endanger the preservation of that breed or the functioning of the breeding program of an existing organization.

An organization for the implementation of Swiss breed preservation projects is recognized when it: a. fulfills the conditions set out in para. 1, let. b, c, and j, or b. fulfills the conditions set out in para. 1, let. b and j, and mentions in its statutes or founding document the preservation of endangered Swiss breeds.