A draft report from the European Parliament’s committee on agriculture has recommended a ban on live exports to third countries unless they have aligned welfare standards.
The draft report was produced following media revelations about the mistreatment of animals during transport.
It is to be debated today (3 December) by the EU agricultural committee, before moving to a vote in January 2019.
Members of the committee will have opportunities to submit amendments to the report before the vote.
Forbidden
As one of five recommendations, the report said: “Unless animal transport standards in third countries are aligned with those of the EU, live animal transport journeys to third countries should be forbidden.”
It called for the Commission and member states to pay particular attention to animal welfare infringements during maritime journeys to third countries.
Ireland exported 18,320 cattle live to non-EU countries in 2018 up to the week ending 10 November, with Turkey and Libya the two main destinations.
The report also recommends that animal journey times be reduced as far as possible and recommends a number of strategies to do so, including:
Funding from the European Commission for economically viable local slaughter facilities.Replacing breeding animals by using semen and embryos.Transporting carcases and meat rather than live animals.Fitness
The fitness of an animal for transport was also a major focus of the report.
It recommended that a definition of what constitutes fitness be developed and that training courses are provided to farmers, drivers and veterinarians.
During a review of animal transport inspection reports, it was found fitness issues led to the highest percentage of infringements, while documentation accounted for the second-highest.
Regulations on the protection of animals during transport were introduced in 2005, but the report strongly criticised the level of implementation by member states to date.
It said “partial implementation” was insufficient to achieve the regulations' purpose of avoiding injury or suffering to animals during transport.
It stressed that “the systematic breach of the regulation by member states leads to unfair competition resulting in an uneven playing field between operators in the different member states”.
Read more
Call for improved enforcement over animal welfare
A glance at 2018 live export destinations
A draft report from the European Parliament’s committee on agriculture has recommended a ban on live exports to third countries unless they have aligned welfare standards.
The draft report was produced following media revelations about the mistreatment of animals during transport.
It is to be debated today (3 December) by the EU agricultural committee, before moving to a vote in January 2019.
Members of the committee will have opportunities to submit amendments to the report before the vote.
Forbidden
As one of five recommendations, the report said: “Unless animal transport standards in third countries are aligned with those of the EU, live animal transport journeys to third countries should be forbidden.”
It called for the Commission and member states to pay particular attention to animal welfare infringements during maritime journeys to third countries.
Ireland exported 18,320 cattle live to non-EU countries in 2018 up to the week ending 10 November, with Turkey and Libya the two main destinations.
The report also recommends that animal journey times be reduced as far as possible and recommends a number of strategies to do so, including:
Funding from the European Commission for economically viable local slaughter facilities.Replacing breeding animals by using semen and embryos.Transporting carcases and meat rather than live animals.Fitness
The fitness of an animal for transport was also a major focus of the report.
It recommended that a definition of what constitutes fitness be developed and that training courses are provided to farmers, drivers and veterinarians.
During a review of animal transport inspection reports, it was found fitness issues led to the highest percentage of infringements, while documentation accounted for the second-highest.
Regulations on the protection of animals during transport were introduced in 2005, but the report strongly criticised the level of implementation by member states to date.
It said “partial implementation” was insufficient to achieve the regulations' purpose of avoiding injury or suffering to animals during transport.
It stressed that “the systematic breach of the regulation by member states leads to unfair competition resulting in an uneven playing field between operators in the different member states”.
Read more
Call for improved enforcement over animal welfare
A glance at 2018 live export destinations
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: