Dismay at EU position on EID accuracy levels
The NFU has today expressed its dismay at the European Commission’s refusal to accept the need for tolerances when reading sheep EID tags.
Since the regulation was first discussed for the electronic identification of sheep, the NFU has consistently stated that it would be impossible for farmers to achieve 100 per cent accuracy 100 per cent of the time when reading and recording individual sheep movements.
Defra and the devolved administrations in the UK have also recognised these issues and following work with the livestock industry have recently submitted a proposal to the European Commission highlighting the need for tolerance. The proposal centred around an inspection system which recognised the practical issues of sheep EID and ensured that farmers would not fall foul of Single Farm Payment penalties as a result of inevitable and unavoidable incomplete readings under the current system. The NFU said the European Commission’s initial reaction to the paper was not positive when it was put forward during a meeting with government officials on Wednesday.
NFU livestock board chairman Alistair Mackintosh said: "It is truly incomprehensible that the Commission appears to have taken this initial view. The NFU has repeatedly stressed the need for accepted tolerance to Commission officials and indeed highlighted the issues to Commissioner John Dalli first-hand on his visit to the UK last November. Without an accepted level of error on readings farmers are faced with the prospect of receiving fines for inaccurate results which will have been no fault of their own. They are also potentially faced with a huge financial burden due to the need to invest in equipment.
"There are many reasons why it is impossible to deliver the 100 per cent accuracy required by the regulation, whether that’s on farm, in markets or at abattoirs, because of the practicalities of taking readings.
"The NFU worked hard to achieve a derogation which allowed the introduction of third parties to carry out electronic reads on behalf of the producer. The success of this derogation relied heavily on the acceptance of tolerance and without it farmers will now have to achieve 100 per cent accuracy every single time which, from experience, I know is impossible.
"The whole of industry accepts that is the case and I am extremely concerned about the impact this news could have on sheep keepers across the UK.
"The NFU will continue working with Defra and we will be seeking urgent meetings with Commission officials to ensure that the severity and implications of this position are understood."
