Validate pet microchip numbers and identify their country and registry in one API call

A pet microchip is a passive RFID transponder — roughly the size of a grain of rice — implanted under an animal's skin. When scanned, it broadcasts a unique identification number that follows the ISO 11784 standard: exactly 15 decimal digits.

The first three digits are the ISO 3166-1 numeric country code assigned to the territory where the chip was manufactured or distributed.

This structure means that a microchip number alone already tells you two critical things: whether the number is syntactically valid, and which country's registry network is responsible for it — before making a single external request.

The API accepts any 15-digit string and performs two independent checks. First, it validates the format: the number must be exactly 15 digits with no letters or special characters. Second, it matches the three-digit prefix against a curated database of ISO country codes to identify the country of origin.

For each matched country, the API returns the complete list of government-approved or nationally recognised registries — including each registry's name and its exact lookup URL. A confidence score between 0 and 1 reflects how many registries exist for that country: a chip from Spain (single national registry, REIAC) returns 0.95; a chip from the United Kingdom — which has 15 Defra-compliant registries — returns a lower score to reflect that the chip could be enrolled in any of them.

The response is designed to be the first step in a lookup workflow: your application validates and routes the chip, then presents the user with direct links to the relevant registries. No guesswork, no hard-coded registry lists in your own code.

A natural question is: why not query Petlog, REIAC, or I-CAD directly and return whether the chip is actually registered? The short answer is legal constraints.

Pet microchip registries hold personal data — the name, address, and contact details of the animal's owner. Accessing that data programmatically, without a formal data-sharing agreement with each registry, would constitute unauthorised processing under GDPR and equivalent national laws, regardless of the intent behind the request.

Rather than compromise your users' data or expose your application to legal risk, the API takes the approach that maximises utility while remaining fully compliant: it tells you exactly where to look and hands you the URL. The actual lookup — performed by a person in a browser, or through a formal partnership with the registry — stays under the registry's own terms of service.

Veterinary intake forms. When a new patient arrives, a vet nurse can enter the scanned chip number into your portal; the API validates the format instantly and shows which registry to call — without the vet needing to know ISO country codes.

Pet rehoming and shelter management platforms. Shelters receiving stray animals can route chip numbers to the correct national database in seconds, even for animals crossing borders with foreign chips.

E-commerce and pet insurance. Require a valid microchip number at checkout? The API validates the format and country before the order is placed, preventing typos and unrecognised chip formats from slipping through.

Pet travel and import compliance. Moving an animal between countries requires chip verification. The API confirms that the chip number follows the ISO standard and identifies the originating country's registry — an essential first step before completing health certificates or EU pet passports.

Animal traceability software. Livestock, equine, and exotic animal platforms can integrate the same endpoint to validate chip numbers submitted by breeders, transporters, or authorities.