I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6042 
To amend the Animal Health Protection Act to prohibit the Secretary of 
Agriculture from implementing or carrying out a National Animal Identi-
fication System or similar requirement and to require the Secretary 
to protect information obtained as part of any voluntary animal identi-
fication system. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 7, 2006 
Mrs. EMERSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To amend the Animal Health Protection Act to prohibit 
the Secretary of Agriculture from implementing or car-
rying out a National Animal Identification System or 
similar requirement and to require the Secretary to pro-
tect information obtained as part of any voluntary animal 
identification system. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON MANDATORY ANIMAL IDENTI-
FICATION PROGRAM. 
Section 10409 of the Animal Health Protection Act 
(7 U.S.C. 8308) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON MANDATORY ANIMAL IDENTI-
FICATION PROGRAM.—Notwithstanding any other provi-
sion of law, the Secretary shall not implement or carry 
out, and no Federal funds shall be used to implement or 
carry out, a National Animal Identification System, or 
similar requirement, that mandates the participation of 
livestock owners.’’. 
SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF INFORMATION IN A VOLUNTARY 
ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM. 
Section 10409 of the Animal Health Protection Act 
(7 U.S.C. 8308) (as amended by section 1) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(d) PROTECTION
OF INFORMATION
IN
A VOL-
UNTARY ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION 
SYSTEM.—In this subsection, the term ‘animal iden-
tification system’ means a voluntary system for iden-
tifying or tracing animals that is established by the 
Secretary. 
‘‘(2) PROTECTION FROM DISCLOSURE.— 
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Information obtained 
through the animal identification system shall 
not be disclosed except as provided in this sub-
section. 
‘‘(B) WAIVER OF PRIVILEGE OR PROTEC-
TION.—The provision of information to the ani-
mal identification system and the disclosure of 
information in accordance with this subsection 
shall not constitute a waiver of any applicable 
privilege or protection under Federal law, in-
cluding trade secret protection. 
‘‘(3) LIMITED
RELEASE
OF
INFORMATION.— 
The Secretary may disclose information obtained 
through the animal identification system if— 
‘‘(A) the Secretary determines that live-
stock may be threatened by a disease or pest; 
‘‘(B) the release of the information is re-
lated to actions the Secretary is authorized to 
take under this subtitle; and 
‘‘(C) the Secretary determines that the dis-
closure of the information to a government enti-
ty or person is necessary to assist the Secretary 
in carrying out the purposes of— 
‘‘(i) this subtitle; and 
‘‘(ii) the animal identification system. 
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