November 21, 2003

EC Plan To Tag Every Sheep in Europe Rejected
 

Plans to tag every sheep in Europe got the thumbs down on Wednesday's afternoon.

Euro MPs rejected the European Commission proposal, opting instead for a UK-style system of monitoring movements of flocks, and not individual animals.

The Commission scheme would have cost UK farmers an estimated £96 million to put a 14-digit code number in both ears of each of the nation's 37 million sheep.

The commission's idea was to step up farm animal tracing controls following recent health scares.

But MEPs said it would be impossible for every farmer to write down the identification number of every animal every time it was moved.

Labour's Euro-MP and agriculture spokesman in the European Parliament, Gordon Adam, said the outcome was a "win-win" result for consumer and farmers.

"Consumers can have confidence that sick animals can be quickly traced and dealt with, solving one of the great problems revealed by the horrendous outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease," he said.

"It also gives farmers a scheme they can work with. Farmers recognise that consumer confidence is all-important but they were opposed to a scheme that was unnecessarily complex."

The "batch-checking" system approved today is already in operation in the UK, requiring farmers to record the general movement of flocks, not individual sheep.

The leader of the UK Tories in the European Parliament, Jonathan Evans, said: "The UK government estimated that tagging Britain's 37 million sheep flock would cost at least £96 million - between £13,000 and £16,000 per farmer.

"I am glad the European Parliament had the common sense to reject the unworkable and ill thought-out aspects of this proposal. It could have been the final nail in the coffin of the British sheep industry."

EU agriculture ministers are expected to endorse the decision at talks in December.