General: The British cat is compact, well balanced and powerful, showing good depth of body, a full broad chest, short strong legs, rounded paws, tail thick at base with rounded tip. The head is round with a good width between small ears, round cheeks, firm chin, large round and well-opened eyes and a short broad nose. The coat is short and dense. A muscular cat with an alert appearance and in perfect physical condition.

Head: Round face with full cheeks and good breadth of skull with round underlying bone structure. The head should be set on a short thick neck.
Nose: The nose itself should be short, broad and straight. In profile, a rounded forehead should lead to a short, straight nose with a nose break which is neither too pronounced nor too shallow.
Chin: A strong, firm and deep chin is essential. The bite must be level, the tip of the chin to line up with the tip of the nose in the same vertical plane.
Ears: Small, rounded at the tips. Set far apart fitting into (without distorting) the rounded contour of the head. External ear to be well covered with fur, internal furnishings not to be excessive.
Eyes: Large, round and well-opened. Set wide apart with no tendency to Oriental shape.
Body: Cobby type with short level back. Low on legs with deep chest. Equally massive across the shoulders and the rump. Medium to large, but not rangy.
Legs and paws: Short, strong legs. Paws round and firm. Toes carried close.
Tail: Should be thick and of medium length, thicker at the base with rounded tip.

1/ Coat (BRI): Must be short, dense and crisp. A soft and/or overlong and fluffy coat is incorrect.

Breed Standards for Nordic Independent – 23 March 2007

2/ Coat (BRL): Semi-long, straight, dense, standing away from the body, not long and flowing. Ruff and breeches desirable. Texture fluffplush. dense, with natural protective appearance. Texture may differ slightly in colours other than blue.

Eye colours:
Deep blue (61), but only for all white (w), van (01) or harlequin (02) patterned white cats
Brilliant copper (62), for all colours, patterns, varieties, except pointed Odd-eyed (63), one eye blue and one copper with equal colour depth, only for all white (w), van (01) or harlequin (02) patterned white cats
Green (64), but only for ns-as-bs-cs-os-ps / ny-ay-by-cy-oy-py in combination with 11, 12, 22, 23, 24, 25
Himalayan blue eye colour (67), to be as deep and pure as possible, only for pointed cats (BRI * 33, BRL * 33), either pointed or all white (w 67)

Recognized coat colours:
White: w, also w 67
Solid: Black (n), blue (a), chocolate (b), lilac (c), red (d), cream (e),
blacktortie (f), bluetortie (g), chocolatetortie (h), lilactortie (j), cinnamon
(o), fawn (p), cinnamontortie (q), fawntortie (r)
In the groups that follow: * = any of the colours n-a-b-c-d-e-f-g-h-j-op-q-r
Smoke: *s
Tipped silver: *s + shaded (11), chinchilla/shell (12)
Tipped golden: *y + shaded (11), shell (12)
Tabby (agouti): * + classic tabby (22), mackerel tabby (23), spotted tabby (24), ticked tabby (25)
Silvertabby (silveragouti): *s + classic tabby (22), mackerel tabby (23), spotted tabby (24), ticked tabby (25)
Goldentabby (goldenagouti): *y + classic tabby (22), mackerel tabby (23), spotted tabby (24), ticked tabby (25)
With white: * + van (01), harlequin (02), bi-colour (03)
Smoke with white: *s+ van (01), harlequin (02), bi-colour (03)
Tipped silver with white: *s + shaded (11), chinchilla/shell (12) and + van (01), harlequin (02), bi-colour (03)
Tipped golden with white: *y + shaded (11), chinchilla/shell (12) and + van (01), harlequin (02), bi-colour (03)
Tabby (agouti) with white: * + van (01), harlequin (02), bi-colour (03) and + unspecified tabby pattern (21), classic tabby (22), mackerel tabby (23), spotted tabby (24), ticked tabby (25)
Silvertabby (silveragouti) with white: *s + van (01), harlequin (02), bicolour (03) and + unspecified tabby pattern (21), classic tabby (22), mackerel tabby (23), spotted tabby (24), ticked tabby (25)
Breed Standards for Nordic Independent – 23 March 2007
Goldentabby (goldenagouti) with white: *y + van (01), harlequin (02), bi-colour (03) and + unspecified tabby pattern (21), classic tabby (22), mackerel tabby (23), spotted tabby (24), ticked tabby (25)
Solid pointed: * + 33
Solid smoke pointed: *s + 33
Tipped silver pointed: *s + 11 33, 12 33
Tipped golden pointed: *y + 11 33, 12 33
Tabby pointed: * + 21 33
Silver tabby pointed: *s + 21 33
Golden tabby pointed: *y + 21 33
Solid pointed with white: * + van (01), harlequin (02), bi-colour (03) and + 33
Solid smoke pointed with white: *s + van (01), harlequin (02), bicolour (03) and + 33
Tipped silver pointed with white: *s + van (01), harlequin (02), bicolour (03) and + 11 33, 12 33
Tipped golden pointed with white: *y + van (01), harlequin (02), bicolour (03) and + 11 33, 12 33
Tabby pointed with white: * + van (01), harlequin (02), bi-colour (03) and + 21 33
Silver tabby pointed with white: *s + van (01), harlequin (02), bicolour (03) and + 21 33
Golden tabby pointed with white: *s + van (01), harlequin (02), bicolour (03) and + 21 33

Point score origin: GCCF
25 Head and ears
10 Eyes
20 Body, legs and paws
5 Tail
20 Coat: Texture and length
20 Coat: Colour Totally 100

Faults:
BRI: Over-long, soft or fluffy coat. Fluffy tail.
BRL: Short or silky coat, long flowing “Persian” coat, light undercoat
Withhold awards: Pronounced nose stop, flat face or snub nose.
Colour descriptions and colour faults: See colour book
General faults for all breeds also apply for BRI/BRL