UK cage ban by December 2010 - No derogation

The UK Government has now indicated how it intends to introduce the EU ban on conventional cages – and it is disappointing news for the industry. Any producer who wishes to complete a full 13 month laying cycle will be unable to house a flock in a conventional cage system after December 2010.

The EU ban takes effect on January 1 2012, but egg industry representatives hoped that any laying flocks in place by that date would be allowed to complete their cycle. Those hopes appear to have been dashed by Jim Fitzpatrick, Minister for Food, Farming and Environment. He has written to the British Egg Industry Council to say that all laying hens will have to be out of conventional cages by January 1 2012.

Mark Williams, chief executive of the BEIC, said he was not surprised by the decision but said he was "disappointed that Defra seems to have failed to grasp the seriousness of the situation facing our industry. We have spent a lot of time pointing out that we are not just talking about changing space requirements as has taken place in the past. This legislation completely changes a system of production across the EU. Some 240 million eggs in the EU were still in conventional cages at the end of 2008. There is no way that they can all be moved in the next two years and five months."

He said the UK industry had worked hard to meet the requirements of the EU directive. He said the majority of the industry in the UK had said it would do so, as long as the politicians were able to concede a number of the industry’s needs. One of those was that laying flocks put into conventional cages up to January 1 2012 be allowed to complete their cycle. It appears that will not be possible as a result of the Minister’s decision.

The Minister has issued a statement to the Ranger to emphasise his position. It reads: "I am writing to remind poultry producers that the ban on keeping laying hens in conventional cages will come into force on 1 January 2012. We are urging producers, if they haven’t already, to be making plans to convert to alternative systems.

"We have been hearing reports that some egg producers believe there is a possibility of the deadline for converting to conventional cages being put back. This is not correct. The actual position is that Ministers have recently restated their commitment to the 2012 deadline. The ban is a requirement of a European Commission Directive, which lays down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens in establishments with 350 or more laying hens.

"The Directive is then required to be implemented by England legislation – only a proposal from the Commission to amend the Directive, agreed to by all Member States, could delay the date of the EU-wide ban. The Commission has no plans to bring forward proposals which would allow for such a derogation.

"We are urging producers to press ahead with making decisions about their future and invest in alternative systems to ensure they meet the 1 January 2012 deadline. Producers wishing to check compliance of any enriched cages or other systems in which they intend to keep laying hens can contact the Animal Health Egg Marketing regional contact should they need any advice. The helpdesk number is 0113 2309580."

The decision by the Westminster Government follows on the heels of similar decisions by politicians in Scotland and Wales. The Scottish Government was the first in the UK to announce that all laying hens had to be out of conventional cages by January 1 2012. In May this year, the Welsh Assembly told the Ranger that it would be taking the same approach to the EU directive. We held off publishing the Assembly’s intention to give egg industry representatives time to lobby the Government. Defra has now made its position clear.

The statement issued to the Ranger by the Scottish Government read: "European Council Directive 99/74/EC bans the keeping of laying hens in conventional cages from 1st January 2012 to ensure minimum animal welfare standards.

"The ban was transposed into domestic legislation by the Welfare of Farmed Animals (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2002. There is no provision in the directive for hens placed in conventional cages before the deadline to remain after this date, regardless of incomplete production cycles.

"If producers wish to take advantage of the full production cycle, birds housed in laying units at 18 weeks and retained until 72 weeks, will need to be ’on site’ by mid-December 2010. The Scottish Government has issued a reminder to producers advising them of time constraints and directing them on where to obtain advice on alternative systems."

Although it had made no public announcement about how the ban would be introduced in Wales, the Welsh Assembly confirmed to the Ranger that it would follow the Scottish Government in insisting that flocks would need to be in place in 2010 to be allowed to complete their cycle.

A spokesman said, "The Welsh Assembly Government has implemented the EC directive which will ban the use of conventional cages for chickens from 1 January 2012. The Welsh Assembly Government would advise producers to ensure that cycles commencing later than mid December 2010 are in enriched systems rather than cages."

John Retson, who is based in Blairgowrie in Perthshire, rears more than 100,000 organic pullets each year. He also has 15,000 organic layers and 40,000 free range layers. He was elected vice chairman of BFREPA in November last year, and is very critical of the approach to the introduction of the conventional cage ban in the UK. He said politicians had underestimated the level of investment needed for the conventional cage ban to be successfully implemented.

The NFU says it will be impossible for many producers to meet the 2010 deadline. "It will be absolutely impossible for a lot of people if they have to place everything in enriched colonies by late 2010," said Rob Newbery, the NFU’s chief poultry advisor. He said the NFU wanted producers to be allowed to place birds in conventional cages up until the 2012 deadline set by the EU and be allowed to complete any flocks that were in place before that deadline.

Other issues raised with the Government by the BEIC touched on how the directive may be addressed by other EU member states. Mark Williams said it was vital to have an intra-community trade ban if certain countries were allowed more time to comply with the directive. The Minister has said that if any other member states applied for and were allowed additional time, he would press the Commission to act so that UK producers who had already converted were not disadvantaged. This could include an intra-community trade ban. He is also taking up a BEIC call for the introduction into EU marketing regulations of a code to distinguish between eggs produced in conventional cages and enriched systems.

The BEIC wanted enriched systems to be referred to as enriched colonies rather than enriched cages. The Minister has rejected this suggestion.

Mark Williams said he was concerned that the approach adopted by the UK Government to the conventional cage ban would not necessarily be the one adopted in other parts of the EU. "We know from previous experience that other member states are likely to interpret the directive differently. This is the problem. The so-called level playing field will not be very level. With the huge number of laying hens still to be re-housed across the EU, we estimate that only a proportion will have been moved by the beginning of 2012".

John Campbell, whose Peebles-based Glenrath Eggs is Scotland’s biggest egg producer, has also raised concerns about how the rest of Europe will deal with the cage ban. "It has got to be a level playing field for the whole of Europe," said John, who said that the ban on conventional cages<