Questions and answers on the changes to the registration of antibiotic use in Sanitel-MED and VAMREG, which will take effect on 1 January 2026

  1.  All poultry: fowl, turkeys, ducks, geese, ostriches, pigeons, guinea fowl, pheasants, quails and partridges. 
    Which birds are referred to as ‘poultry’?:
    According to Regulation (EU) 2016/429: birds that are bred or kept in captivity: 
    a) for the production of: 
         i) meat; 
         ii) eggs for consumption; 
        iii) other products; 
    b) for the release into the wild; 
    c) for the breeding of birds used for the types of production referred to in points (a) and (b).
  2. All porcine animals (whether or not intended for food production).
  3. Ruminants (whether or not intended for food production):
    o    All bovine animals;
    o    Sheep, goats, cervids, camelids.
  4. Rabbits intended for food production1.
     

1Royal Decree of 20 May 2022 on the identification and registration of certain hoofed animals, poultry, rabbits and certain birds

  1. Horses (whether or not intended for food production).
  2. Aquaculture for food production:
    o    Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, golden bream, sea bass, carp;
    o    Other aquaculture for food production.

For more information, please consult: VAMREG, the Veterinary Antimicrobial Resistance Register | FAMHP

The veterinarian can modify the 2025 data by 14 February 2026 at the latest. 
From 15 February 2026 onwards the antibiotic use data related to 2025 will be considered as accurate and final; if applicable for the relevant animal species, said data will be used to determine the company’s benchmark report and it’s antibiotic farm status (as provided for in the Royal Decree of 17 December 2024).  
 
 

1)    For the veterinarian
The table below provides an overview of the registration deadlines per trimester, where ‘xx’ should be replaced by the respective year:
 

  To be registered by the veterinarian up to and including To be corrected by the veterinarian up to and including 
Dates of trimester 1 14.04.20xx 14.05.20xx
Dates of trimester 2 14.07.20xx 14.08.20xx
Dates of trimester 3 14.10.20xx 14.11.20xx
Dates of trimester 4 14.01.20xx+1 14.02.20xx+1


2)    For the farmer 
Livestock farmers are also responsible for the data accuracy in Sanitel-MED and may ask the veterinarian to correct the data registration up to and including the penultimate day of the month following the trimester in which the medicinal products were prescribed, supplied or administered on their farms. Said data can be consulted via Sanitel-MED (with the login for Veeportaal or with a login requested via Arsia) or, if the livestock farmer has access to the third-party systems, via Bigame, AB Register or SGS. 
The table below provides an overview of the time the livestock farmer has to correct the data in Sanitel-MED per trimester, where ‘xx’ is to be replaced by the respective year:

  Verification of the data by the livestock farmer To be corrected by the veterinarian up to and including
Dates of trimester 1 15.04.20xx to 29.04.20xx 14.05.20xx
Dates of trimester 2 15.07.20xx to 30.07.20xx 14.08.20xx
Dates of trimester 3 15.10.20xx to 30.10.20xx 14.11.20xx
Dates of trimester 4 15.01.20xx+1 to 30.01.20xx+1 14.02.20xx+1
A month and a half after the end of a trimester, the veterinarian can no longer perform any changes, neither in Sanitel-MED nor via third-party systems. Those data are then considered to be accurate and final and will be used for benchmark reporting.
If exceptionally data modification is required, the veterinarian may contact the Sanitel-MED Service Desk to submit a substantiated modification request including the original Administration and Supply Document (ASD). This can be done directly or via AB Register, Bigame or SGS.
One month after the date of a benchmark report, no more modifications to the data included in that report will be accepted. 
For those animal species for which benchmark reporting has not yet started, substantiated modification requests accompanied by their original ASD can be submitted up to three months after the deadline for the veterinarian to correct the data.
The same deadlines must be followed for the registration of antibiotic use in VAMREG. It is not possible to register in VAMREG via third-party systems.
 
A veterinarian who has registered the antibiotic use in Sanitel-MED via a third-party system may submit the modification request via that third-party system. It is not possible to submit a modification request in VAMREG via third-party systems.
The source of the animal numbers is Sanitel, the database of the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC). In principle, they are separate from the data in Sanitel-Med, the database for antibiotic use of the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP). Animal numbers must be correct and up to date at all times. 
A livestock farmer who wants to modify the animal numbers in Sanitel (for example upon receiving an error report) may do so by following the usual procedures via DGZ and Arsia. Retrospective adjustment of animal numbers is not possible in Sanitel. 
However, in the context of data analysis of antibiotic use, retrospective adjustment is possible. All requests to modify a farm’s historical animal numbers, as well as all requests to confirm that animal numbers marked as ‘potentially incorrect’ are in fact correct, should be submitted through the Sanitel-Med Service Desk or through the third-party systems.
 
The original ASD is required to demonstrate that the requested modifications to the quantity, animal category, herd number, document date, document type and document number, ... correspond to the information in the ASD.
If late or incorrect registration is due to software issues, please add a statement from your software provider in order to substantiate your data modification request for data that are considered final.
Requests lacking the original ASD or a statement from the software supplier will not be accepted. Requests submitted more than one month after the date of the first benchmark report containing said data will also not be accepted. For those animal species for which no benchmarking has yet started, applications submitted more than three months after the deadline by which the veterinarian can correct the data will not be accepted.
In order to ensure correct reporting at European level, the age categories for young bovine animals (different from veal calves) will be adjusted as follows, with the coding in Sanitel-Med remaining the same:

 

BO03F Calf (0 to 3 months) Veal
BO03M Calf (0 to 3 months) Milk
BO38F Calf (3 to 8 months) Veal becomes Calf (4 to 12 months) Veal
BO38M Calf (3 to 8 months) Milk becomes Calf (4 to 12 months) Milk
BO24F Young cattle Veal (8-24 months) becomes Young cattle Veal (13-24 months)
BO24B Young cattle Breed (8-24 months) becomes Young cattle Milk (13-24 months)


Please note: as of January 2026, the ‘labels’ associated with the codes will be adapted; however, the codes themselves will remain unchanged. That is to ensure that the new labels will also be applied to older registrations; please keep that in mind. 
For example, a veterinarian who registers antibiotic use before 25 December 2025 on 8 January 2026 will get to see all the new labels attached to the code. 
These codes and labels are not used for veal calves, so nothing changes for veal calves.

You should mention the disorder for which the antibiotic was administered, provided or prescribed at the time of registration according to the list of eleven predefined general disorders: 

Disorder Animal species
Systemic disorders All animal species
Respiratory disorders All animal species
Eye problems All animal species
Neurological disorders All animal species
Locomotor disorders All animal species
Digestive disorders All animal species
Skin disorders All animal species
Perioperative antibacterial treatment All animal species
Drying therapy Cattle
Mastitis All mammals, i.e. all animal species except poultry
Urogenital disorders All animal species
The use of antibiotics must be registered in the name of the veterinarian who administers, provides or prescribes the antibiotics (surname, name and order number). Registrations of antibiotic use in the name of legal persons will no longer be accepted.

 

 
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