January 26, 2012

Thirteen EU countries face possible cage ban charges

Thirteen EU countries face possible EU legal action on Thursday (Jan 26), if the ban is not imposed on non-compliant cages for laying hens by January 1, according to a Reuters report.

The European Commission (EU) will send a letter of formal notice to countries including France, Spain and Poland as the first step in lengthy EU legal proceedings that can lead to the imposition of daily fines on countries, reported in an EU document.

The EU agreed the ban on battery cages in 1999, but Commission data from April 2011 showed that more than a third of laying hens in Europe were still being kept in non-compliant cages.

In October 2011, a legal ban on the sale of eggs from battery chickens to consumers would come into enforcement on January 1, 2012. Legal action against EU countries which failed to end the use of battery cages will be taken.

According to EU consumer affairs Chief John Dalli, producers in EU countries would still be able to sell non-compliant eggs to industrial processors, but not retailers in their own countries.

Other countries facing legal action were Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Romania.

Politicians and farmers' groups from Britain who have earlier urged the EU to take a tougher stance against those countries who are non-compliance with the ban, could also face possible legal action against her local producers who have missed the deadline.

Once confirmed, a letter of formal notice will be sent to the British authorities at a later date, as the latest figures were not available in time for Thursday's infringement package, said an EU source to Reuters on condition of anonymity.