Select Committee on Agriculture Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence


Annex 2

Letter to Chief Executive of the BEIC from Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP, Minister for Trade, DTI

  Thank you for the copy of your letter of 17 January to Nick Brown and the fax of 9 February to my office regarding the welfare of laying hens and suggesting a meeting. I am replying in view of my responsibility for trade policy.

  In your letter you raise the specific issue of changing WTO rules to take account of animal welfare standards. I would hope that your next meeting with Nick Brown will provide an opportunity to raise this issue. In light of this, and the current difficulties in making progress in the WTO on animal welfare issues, I regret that I am not able to accept your offer of meeting in person.

  As you may be aware, I met recently with a number of animal welfare groups to discuss the issue of animal welfare standards and WTO rules. The meeting included representatives from Compassion in World Farming and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals who I see that you work together with on this issue. As I explained at that meeting, at the unsuccessful Seattle WTO ministerial conference last year, the UK and EU pressed for animal welfare considerations to be included in negotiations for a new Round of multilateral trade negotiations. However, we met with considerable opposition from other WTO Members. Discussions in the WTO on other issues, such as how to reflect environmental concerns in trade rules, have shown how difficult it is to make progress while there is not a wide international consensus. Many developing countries suspect that the EU's real motives are protectionist. In addition, and unlike in the area of the environment or labour standards, there are no internationally accepted standards or agreements on animal welfare.

  The UK will continue to press for WTO work on animal welfare, including the built-in negotiations on agriculture which are proceeding despite the lack of agreement on launching a Round at Seattle. However, we do not believe that it is realistic to expect any significant progress on animal welfare issues in the WTO for the time being.

23 February 2000


 
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