EU experts back proposals to help with the introduction of electronic tagging of sheep and goats

Member State experts on the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) have voted in favour of Commission proposals to help with the introduction of electronic identification of sheep and goats and to reduce the administrative burden on farmers.

They include:

- electronic reading of animals at critical control points (eg markets, slaughter houses) instead of at each single farm;

- a simplified procedure for retagging of animals;

- reducing information obligations for the annual inventory.

It is estimated that these provisions can reduce the costs for sheep identification at the farm by more than 50%.

They also represent the Commission’s commitment to the Council to consider comitology measures that could reduce the administrative burden on farmers without compromising traceability in the sheep sector.

The draft proposals, to amend the Annex of Regulation (EC) 21/2004, will now be adopted by the European Commission.

Electronic identification is the key element to ensure individual tracing of animals throughout their life. It is done with microchips that can be embedded in an ear tag, a ruminal bolus, a mark on the pastern or even injected. The technique allows reading individual codes of big groups of animals in short time.

The current rules on the identification of sheep and goats were adopted in 2003 in reaction to the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease. A step-by-step introduction of individual traceability was agreed in 2003.

Electronic identification will become obligatory for most lambs born after 31 December 2009.

From 2011 the individual identity of each sheep or goat will be recorded whenever they move.