BRUSSELS Belgium AP The European Commission had good news Tuesday for pet lovers planning to move to Britain or Ireland: rabies will soon disappear from the EU which may prod both countries to end their tough pet quarantine laws. ``It can be confidently predicted rabies will be eliminated from the EU within the not too distant future the commission said. It said only 30 cases were reported in 1998 in Germany the EU's most infected country down from 3534 in 1991. The commission granted dlrs 3.5 million to a campaign to eradicate rabies altogether and ``contribute to dismantling quarantine for pets when they and their owners travel to the United Kingdom or Ireland.'' Newcomers to both countries must board their pets for six months in quarantine kennels as part of strict anti-rabies laws. Dog and cat lovers say that is expensive and cruel. As an alternative Britain is already considering a plan to insert microchips under the skin of pets so they can be identified by an electronic scanner on arrival. Each pet would also have a passport-style document listing vaccinations against diseases. However that would apply only to pets from other EU countries. Americans and other non-Europeans would still have to put their animals into quarantine. The commission's anti-rabies campaign contribution is part of a total expenditure of 50.75 million European currency units dlrs 58.4 million to help combat a dozen or so animal diseases such as Classical and African swine fever scrapie and brucellosis in cows sheep and goats. ``Funding of most programs will be concentrated on compensating farmers for the slaughter of infected animals'' the Commission said. UR; rw APW19981201.1119.txt.body.html APW19981201.0995.txt.body.html