With a ban on caged eggs looming on the horizon, is it comply, flout or derogation
It is now quite clear that producing eggs in conventional cages will be completely outlawed in the European Union by the start of 2012 - or is it? In public, at least, politicians are insisting that the legislation will be introduced on time and in full. Privately, many believe that converting an industry currently made up of nearly 80 per cent caged production is an impossible dream. The suspicion is that those who do not meet the deadline will be given an 11th hour extension. Together with egg producers ou tside the European Union who would have no need to comply with EU legislation, they would clearly enjoy a significant economic advantage over producers who followed the rules. The fear is that law-abiding British producers would find their market here at home under attack from unfair overseas imports.
It is a fear that one politician has aired publicly. Robert Sturdy, Conservative Euro MP for the East of England - and a farmer himself, said,"My concern is that the legislation will end up being deferred. The industry will be accused of manipulation, which would clearly not be true. British producers will do everything they can to meet the deadline, but I fear that there will be a last-minute derogation for those countries that do not meet the standards. That could b e the nail in the coffin for British producers. If other countries are given a two-year derogation, those who had complied with the legislation would be at a huge disadvantage."
Producers will be able to continue using ’enriched cages’, but from January 2012 conventional cages will be banned under EU law. DEFRA insists that the legislation will be enforced as planned.
"The ban is part of EU Directive 199/74/EC, which sets down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens and this would need to be amended to make any changes to the ban," said Defra. "A derogation to the ban for conventional cages from 1 January 2012 would need an amendment to Directive 1999/74/EC and the Commission has given no indication that they plan to bring forward proposals to amend the directive.
"Other EU states have the same duty as the UK to implement and enforce legislation of farm animal welfare, including the ban on conventional cages from 2012. If a member state is not complying with the requirements, the correct procedure is to make a complaint to the Commission."
DEFRA said,"We are aware that some in the industry do not feel it is possible to make the switch by 2012. However, the EU directive that bans conventional cages was adopted in 1999 and was implemented in the UK in 2002, leaving producers significant time to convert from conventional cages."
Although the directive was adopted in 1999, the EU ordered its own review into the proposals. The implication of a review, said Mark Williams, chief executive of the British Egg Industry Council, was that the proposals may have changed as a result of the review. The report was due to be published in 2005, but it was finally published this year, confirming the original proposals.
"People have been waiting for an EU report that was t ˛hree years late. Nearly 80 per cent of 390 million laying hens now have to be switched. The industry faces a pretty torrid time and I just cannot see it happening," he said.
The EU claims that the percentage of the European flock in cages fell by 10 per cent from 2006 to 2007 - from 78 per cent of total egg production to 68 per cent, but Mark Williams said that on closer inspection the EU figures were not quite what they seemed. The 2007 statistics included figures from Rumania - a new member state whose ˝data did not form part of the 2006 statistics. "The EU is showing a 10 per cent fall in the percentage of birds in cages, but using the Rumanian figures is just wrong. Most of the production in Rumania is back yard production anyway, so it is not going to have any effect in reality."
Mark Williams said that the industry did not oppose the introduction of the traditional cage ban, but he said that more time was needed for the industry to comply with the legislation. "We need to phase out conventional cages over a longer period - say between 2012 and 2017. Sweden took this kind of approach on a much smaller scale. They used a welfare points system to gradually move over and I think that it is the kind of approach the EU should follow."
Unless there was a ch iange, he said, the ban would come into force in all 27 EU countries on January 1 2012, but he doubted whether that was practically possible. Here in the UK the volume of production still on caged systems was now down to 61 per cent - much better than the average for the EU as a whole. But in Spain. for example, 97 per cent of production was still in cages.
"Of course, here in the UK we continue to respond to market forces. We have the largest commercial free range flock in Europe, if not the World, and if we think we will have diffiuculty meeting the deadline for the ban I cannot imagine what is going to happen in other large countries where they have very large caged flocks. My personal belief is that I cannot see the ban being practically enforced in some other countries. I have no doubt that it will be enforced here and in certain other northern European cou intries, but I cannot see it happening in southern and eastern European countries. The problem is that we are one European Union. If conventional cage eggs continue to be allowed from 2012 onwards they will come here. I don’t think retailers in this country would take such eggs, but they may go into the catering sector."
A spokesman for the British Retail Consortium said the market trend was away from cage eggs. British supermarkets were strong supporters of the British egg industry and that would continue to be the case. "One hundred per cent of the eggs sold in British supermarkets are sourced in the UK. That is the case for both caged and free range," he said. But what if eggs from conventional cages could be produced elsewhere but not in the United Kingdom?
Latest TNS figures show that free range egg sales continue to grow, although they also show that the ˚previous steady decline of ’value’ egg sales has now been halted. Some major stores have started clearing their shelves of eggs from caged systems. Sainsbury’s, the Co-Op and Morrisons have all agreed to ban eggs from caged birds. Marks and Spencer and Waitrose already sell only free range eggs. Asda and Tesco, however, have not followed the same course. They have cut down the space given to caged eggs, but Tesco says there is still a place for them in its stores.
"We are actively promoting barn, free range and organic eggs by giving them more shelf space and we have recently introduced 14 regional varieties of free range eggs which are Freedom farm approved," said a Tesco spokesman. "We have reduced the shelf space given to eggs from caged hens and have introduced clearer marking of eggs from caged hens on the front of the pack. That said, we do serve a broad range of customers so we will continue to offer standard eggs that are clearly labelled so that shoppers can make informed choice. We always listen to our customers and many of them tell us they are on a tight budget and rely on us to provide affordable good quality food."
With the credit crunch staring to bite, retailers have been reporting more interest in budget food lines. Should demand for ’value’ eggs hold firm when the cage ban is introduced in 2012, those eggs could come either from EU countries where the legislation is not being enforced or where the EU has granted a derogation or from countries outside the European Union where the EU’s pr ˇoduction rules do not apply - for whilst it will be illegal to produce eggs from birds in conventional ca
