March 22, 2012

European Commission officials reported that most of the EU Member States will be unable to comply with the ban on sow stalls which will come into place in January 2013.

The figures provided by the European Commission were that 12 Member States, including the UK, Sweden and Luxembourg who are already compliant, would meet the legislation by the end of this year.

Another seven member states expect to be 90% compliant with the regulations which were announced since 1999 in order to give pig farmers time to convert to other more animal welfare friendly production systems.

Five member states will be between 60 and 90% compliant by the end of the year and three have only a small percentage of their pig production units up to legislative scratch.

The figures were shared at a meeting set up by British pig producers, who came to Brussels to demand a strong enforcement of the EU sow stall ban. Stewart Houston, UK director of the National Pig Association, said it was very disappointing but it was also what they had expected to have confirmed.