Annex 1
Letter to the Rt Hon Nicholas Brown MP,
MAFF Minister, from the Chief Executive of the BEIC
WELFARE OF LAYING HENS
The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC), Compassion
in World Farming (CIWF) and Royal Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) are working together to ensure the
smooth implementation of the recently adopted Council Directive
(99/74/EC) laying down minimum standards for the protection of
laying hens. We strongly believe that UK Ministers should help
the industry to take the action which will be required to achieve
this aim.
It is necessary to bear in mind that egg producers
are always working on very narrow (or negative) margins and it
is difficult for them to accumulate the capital investment required
to move into new systems of production. This task is clearly made
more difficult if the egg market is weak and depressed.
We are convinced that it will be necessary for
Ministers to ensure that the market is not undermined by cheap
imported eggs or egg products produced to very different standards
and that additional aid and help should be provided as follows:
(a) Grants towards the capital expenditure
involved in moving to free range and perchery/barn production
(consideration should be given to reducing the rate of grant over
time to encourage the early movement out of conventional cages).
(b) Sensible enforcement of the IPPC Directive
to avoid undue costs being imposed upon alternative systems of
production (which all include the provision of litter).
(c) Reduction of planning constraints on
the erection of new non-cage production units and on change of
use from conventional cage units to light industrial use.
(d) Action by the Commission to see that
the Directive is implemented throughout the EU thus preventing
the market here from being undermined by cheap exports from non-complying
units in eg Spain.
(e) An expansion of the WTO criteria so as
to provide that eggs and egg products can only be traded between
countries with the same welfare standards. Or, if this should
prove to be non-negotiable, a refusal to make further reductions
in the EU protection for eggs and egg products coupled with the
imposition of additional levies on imports from third countries
which do not have the same welfare rules for hens as the EU. Thus
preventing the market here being undermined by cheap third-country
imports.
(f) No reduction in the amount of land required
by EU regulations for eggs to be labelled as "free-range"
thus preventing the market here for free range being undermined
by eg French imports from farms with a far lower land requirement.
(g) An early guidance note giving a clear
interpretation of the Directive.
We would welcome an opportunity to discuss these
matters with Ministers.
A copy of this letter goes to the Rt Hon Richard
Caborn MP.
17 January 2000
| 
