European Union-Livestock transport.
EUROPEAN UNION-LIVESTOCK TRANSPORTATION.
Conscious of the fact that animal transportation has "always been a controversial issue," the European Commission has nevertheless decided to return to it and strengthen welfare standards for the 60 million cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, poultry and horses moved each year in Europe. Before the European Parliament, Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou committed to make a proposal in this direction before the European elections.
Her services therefore developed a draft regulation, which anticipates establishing maximum load densities on trucks, prohibiting the transportation of animals to slaughterhouses beyond a journey of nine hours and limiting convoys for other reasons.
In a very long impact study (over 120 pages), they make no secret of the fact that reducing the load density of trucks will result in considerable costs. This text, which is unfavourable to the intra-Community trade in live animals, should inevitably lead to the redistribution of the cards within the animal industry. It is in the final examination phase by the various directorates of the Commission.
Vassiliou’s services are convinced of the need to discourage - or, at the very least, reduce - the transportation of live animals over long distances. This is for reasons of animal welfare, as well as for health reasons. Their project highlights the importance of "reviewing, clarifying and updating" a legislation which was unable to be reformed due to a lack of consensus within the Council of Ministers. The Commission’s previous initiative indeed ended in a bitter reversal at the end of prolonged negotiations, in spring 2004. France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece then considered the project to be extreme.
ALIGNMENT WITH SOCIAL LEGISLATION
This time, the services of the Commission suggest aligning animal welfare standards with the social legislation in force for drivers of heavy goods vehicles. And their priority targets are animals on their way to slaughterhouses - the least respected, reveals the project.
The chosen option "consists in limiting transportation time to nine hours for animals intended for slaughter and to sequences of 20 hours of transport - nine hours of rest for other animals while reducing densities," explains the draft regulation. The current situation is "clearly unsatisfactory," it specifies, due to a complexity, such that the rules are not respected, are poorly controlled by the public authorities and generate considerable administrative costs.
ADMINISTRATIVE SAVINGS OF 2.25 BN
These costs are estimated at EUR2.25 billion per year. The Commission therefore promises - while improving the fate of animals - to reduce red tape. It intends to use new technologies. "The use of satellite navigation systems in heavy goods vehicles is now an effective tool for monitoring the transportation of animals in the Community," it explains. It is thus possible to "support" the European system for the traceability of animals (TRACE), a tool for the collection of information relating to authorised transportation, via road, rail or inland waterways.
Certificates of competence will also be digitised. Besides simplifying procedures for operators, the use of GPS also has the advantage of considerably facilitating controls on the duration of transport times, thus reducing fraud.
So as not to penalise farms located in isolated regions, it is anticipated that member states will be able to grant exemptions in cases where no more than two slaughterhouses exist within a radius of 550 kilometres. In these circumstances, the nine-hour rule may also be relaxed.
On the other hand, for destinations other than slaughterhouses, the 20-hour standard must be respected. Animals will need to be unloaded, rest, be given water and fed in nine hours. An exemption to unloading in a checkpoint may be granted for health reasons. In all cases, a margin of flexibility of two hours of additional transportation may be tolerated according to proximity to the place of final destination, in the interest of the animals.
MAXIMUM LOAD DENSITIES
With regard to densities, the project anticipates a variable scale depending on the species and size of animals. For example, for short distances (less than nine hours of transportation), the minimum space for a 50 kg cow should be 0.290 m2 but 1.850 m2 for an animal weighing 800 kg (extreme figures envisaged by the Commission). On the other hand, these densities will be increased to 0.440 m2 and 2.250 m2, respectively, for long distances (in excess of nine hours).
The Commission’s services already believe that the issue of transportation time to slaughterhouses will be "the most controversial" one. Their project, indicates the impact study, will lead to a reorganisation of jobs between producer countries and destination countries; additional costs associated with density limits; and perhaps a "slight" increase in the cost of meat. A negative impact is anticipated on breeders and slaughterhouses in the "peripheral regions". On the other hand, they believe this initiative has the following advantages: positive impact on the environment; improvement in animal welfare; considerable reduction in administrative costs.
