ANIMAL WELFARE - EU LEGISLATION UPDATE

Posted on 12 September 2012

New EU legislation came into effect on 1st January 2012, improving the minimum standards for the environment that caged hens are kept in. These ‘enriched’ systems ensure that hens now have sufficient space to perch, nest and move about. Whilst the UK complied with this legislation by the deadline, 14 EU countries failed to do so, despite being aware of this deadline for the past 12 years.

With an estimated £400 million invested by UK farmers to ensure compliance, this clearly puts them at an economic disadvantage when compared with non-compliant countries. Recent information from the EU Commission shows they have now starting the process of taking action on the 10 countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Greece, Hungary, Cyprus, Portugal and Poland) that remain non-compliant. These countries have been given a two month deadline to achieve compliance. Failure to do so will result in them being referred to the EU Court of Justice. Good news for hens, UK farmers and consumers.

The EU deadline to convert sow housing from individual stalls to group housing by 31st December 2012 is now fast approaching. Disappointingly, it seems that the same problem of member countries failing to comply will occur once again. So far, eleven countries have indicated they will not comply by the deadline. These are: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Finland, Greece, Irish Republic, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia.

Again, this will put the UK’s pig farmers at an economic disadvantage as the EU Commissioner has confirmed that it will be illegal for countries to block imports of meat from non-complaint countries.

At present, Scotland’s pig farmers make up around 7% of the total UK pig industry. Increasing feed costs, coupled with such an economic disadvantage could make pig farming within Scotland financially unviable. Let us hope the EU Commissioner acts faster on this issue than on caged hens.