April 12, 2021
 

Evaluation of EU's efforts towards animal welfare published
 

  

The European Commission has published an evaluation of the "European Union Strategy for the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2012-2015" to identify the extent to which the objectives have been met.

 

The commission, through 20 different actions, set the following objectives:

 

    - Consider the feasibility of introducing a simplified EU legislative framework;

 

    - Support Member States to improve compliance by educating, training, advising and auditing the competent authorities to strengthen the compliance with the EU animal welfare legislation, sharing of best practices, guidance and raising awareness among business operators;

 

    - Develop EU-level knowledge of certain issues by producing new knowledge and evidence and taking decisions on that basis;

 

    - Promote EU animal welfare standards globally;

 

    - Optimise synergies with the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP); i.e. funding under the Rural Development Programme for animal welfare payments which compensate farmers for costs or income losses associated with commitments going beyond mandatory requirements, to support farmers investing in animal welfare;

 

    - Provide consumers and the public with appropriate information on animal welfare via EU communication and education activities;

 

According to the report, all of the strategy's actions have been implemented, with the exception of the one requiring an assessment of the feasibility of introducing a simplified legislative framework.

 

EU producers perceive the fact that products imported into the European Union do not have to comply with EU animal welfare standards (except for slaughter) as a threat to their competitiveness.

 

Within or outside trade agreements, the bilateral cooperation has achieved concrete results over the years such as the creation of working groups with partners (e.g. Chile and New Zealand). This was a trigger for Chile to develop a full body of national legislation on animal welfare and for New Zealand and Canada to set up equivalence on animal welfare at slaughter.

 

The EU-Brazil Sectorial Dialogue Instrument, in the context of a memorandum of understanding on animal welfare, has also made progress. In parallel, the commission and EU Member States have also been active on a multilateral level by contributing to the process of development, adoption and implementation of the 14 OIE international standards on animal welfare and cooperating with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

 

The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) is to implement animal welfare standards that go beyond the minimum legislative requirements. These animal welfare payments compensate farmers for income loss and/or additional costs stemming from carrying out commitments going beyond the minimum requirements set out in the legislation. However, this measure is optional and only a limited number of Member States has used this possibility.

 

The level of understanding of animal welfare issues within diverse groups such as general public, students, consumers and professionals working with animals were also assessed during the strategy. The aim was to identify where deficiencies still persist and to suggest means of improving knowledge levels through education and the dissemination of information.

 

In terms of enforcement, the two key commission priorities were and remain the protection of animals during transport and the welfare of pigs with particular focus on tail docking.

 

Concerning the transport of animals, the European Commission focused its work on addressing challenges related to long journeys. To ensure that the legislation is correctly applied, the commission audited several Member States within a three-year project (2017-2019). This project focused exclusively on the welfare of animals exported to third countries by road and sea.

 

In regards to the welfare of pigs, the commission developed activities to support Member States to improve their level of compliance.

 

In March 2016, the commission adopted a recommendation on the application of Directive 2008/120/EC, laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs in relation to measures that seek to reduce the need for tail docking. Tail docking should only to be carried out under strictly defined circumstances; however it is still routinely practiced in many Member States. It is accompanied by a Staff Working Document, which provides the technical tools to improve implementation and enforcement of the legislation.

 

In addition to the strategy, the commission performed audits in Member States to evaluate how they have used this recommendation to improve compliance with EU legislation. The commission has also developed extensive communication materials to help pig farmers and encourage them with different approaches to avoid routine tail-docking.

 

- EURLEX (EU)