European Federation of Farriers Associations (EFFA)

In November 2008, the European Federation of Farriers Associations announced the launch of the Europe-wide qualification Certified Euro-Farrier. Working farriers who have been nominated by their national associations as having completed a course of formal training and having passed an examination recognised as meeting EFFA’s Standards of Competence are awarded a certificate, receive an annual vehicle window sticker and are entitled to put CE-F after their names, EFFA’s Standards of Competence were developed by the member nations with assistance from the European Commission’s Leonardo da Vinci project.

Countries currently registered as being eligible are Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Great Britain, Denmark and Finland. Other countries will be accredited as they reach the necessary standard.

The aims of the Certified Euro-Farrier scheme are to :

• Provide recognition for those who  have achieved the necessary standards of competence 
• Provide a means of identifying  properly trained and qualified farriers from other countries. This is  particularly important for horse owners in view of recent EU legislation  allowing farriers to practise in other countries purely on the basis of  experience 
• Encourage countries without  qualifications or with lower level qualifications to raise standards of  farriery to meet the EFFA Standards of Competence