4. IDENTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION SYSTEM
FOR SHEEP AND GOATS
(24166)
15829/02
COM(02) 729
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Draft Council Regulation establishing a system for the identification and registration of ovine and caprine animals and amending Regulation (EEC) No. 3508/92.
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| Legal base: | Article 37 EC; consultation; qualified majority voting
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| Document originated: | 13 December 2002
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| Deposited in Parliament: | 13 January 2003
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| Department: | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
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| Basis of consideration: | EM of 16 January 2003
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| Previous Committee Report: | None
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| To be discussed in Council: | First half of 2003
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| Committee's assessment: | Politically important
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| Committee's decision: | Not cleared
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Background
4.1 Council Directive 92/102/EEC[16]
establishes a system for the identification and registration of
animals, principally in order to enable veterinary checks to be
carried out, but also to identify certain types of livestock eligible
for Community aid schemes to be identified. Its main provision
requires Member States to maintain an up-to-date list of all holdings
on which animals covered by the Directive are kept, and Member
States must also ensure that the owners maintain a register stating
the number of animals present on the holding, together with a
record of all births, deaths and movements. In the latter case,
information also has to be provided, on at least an aggregate
basis, showing the date of movement, and the holding of origin
or destination. In the case of cattle, each animal must be identified
individually by an eartag, whereas other animals may simply be
marked in such a way as to make it possible to identify the holding
from which they have come.
4.2 The Commission says that experience during the foot
and mouth disease crisis made it clear that implementation of
the Directive in the case of sheep and goats has not been satisfactory.
It also states that a large-scale project has demonstrated the
improvements which would result from the electronic identification
of livestock, and that the relevant technology has now been developed
to a stage where it can be applied, subject to appropriate guidelines
being drawn up by the Joint Research Centre. Consequently, it
is now proposing in this document a number of changes.
The current proposal
4.3 The main changes proposed are that:
- all sheep and goats born after 1 July 2003, or intended for
intra-Community trade, should be tagged in each ear within one
month of birth, with an individual identification number;
- as from 1 July 2003, farm registers should contain precise
information on the identity, sex, breed and genotype (if known),
and month of birth and death of all animals on the holding, as
well as movements onto or from the holding;
- as from 1 July 2003, documents should be issued by the Member
State to accompany each batch of sheep or goats being moved, containing
precise information on the identity, sex, breed and genotype (if
known), month and year of birth of each sheep or goat, and movement
details of the batch;
- as from 1 July 2004, Member States should have in place a
central register of holdings keeping sheep and goats;
- as from 1 July 2005, each Member State should have set up
a computerised central database containing information on the
movement of each batch of sheep or goats between holdings;
- Member States may allow one ear tag to be replaced with an
electronic identifier, with this becoming mandatory from 1 July
2006.
4.4 The proposal also amends Regulation (EEC) No. 3508/92[17]
in order to establish that the granting of aid, such as the Sheep
Annual Premium payment, should be dependent on compliance with
these conditions.
The Government's view
4.5 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 16 January 2003,
the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Commons) at the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr Elliot Morley) says
that the UK supports the objective of improving sheep identification
and traceability in order to prevent the spread of animal disease.
He also says that the UK has in place measures which satisfy some
of the key elements in the proposal. These include:
- giving each sheep an individual identification number (a condition
already in place in Scotland, and due to be extended to England
and Wales on a single tag as from 1 February 2003, and to Northern
Ireland from mid 2003);
- individual numbers being recorded in Northern Ireland, but
not in Great Britain;
- keepers being required to keep on a batch basis a record of
movements onto and off their premises, with a document accompanying
all movements of sheep and goats;
- the movement of batches of sheep and goats being recorded
on central databases, and containing information on the date of
movement and the numbers involved, together with details of the
holdings to and from which the animals are being moved;
- a register being kept of each holding on which sheep are kept.
4.6 The Minister says that, despite this, the Government
considers that the proposal would give rise to major implementation
problems. In particular, it believes that electronic identification
and associated systems would need to be introduced on a widespread
basis in order to record the details of individual sheep and goats
routinely, and that the proposed technical guidance from the Joint
Research Centre promised would be crucial to the implementation
of this technology throughout the Community. He adds that widespread
implementation prior to this risks inconsistent standards leading
to incompatibility across Europe. The UK therefore believes that
the timescale in the proposals should be reconsidered, and brought
into line with that for introducing an effective and workable
system of electronic identification.
4.7 The Minister also points out that the UK has the
largest number of sheep and goats of any Member State, and also
on average moves each sheep more often. He adds that the UK's
stratified and extensive industry means that any manual recording
of individual sheep and goat identities along with the other details
required would be very difficult, and impose considerable burdens
on the industry. He is also concerned that, given the links to
the payment of subsidies, UK farmers should be able to comply
with any system adopted. All this leads the Minister to the conclusion
that the proposal will need some amendment in order to ensure
that it is both workable and enforceable, and that the time-scales
for implementation are realistic.
4.8 The Minister says that a full Regulatory Impact Assessment
should be ready by the end of February. In the meantime, he says
that initial estimates indicate that the industry could face additional
costs of £12 million as a result of the tagging requirements,
and a further £15 million in labour costs to apply the tags
and keep records. In addition, the introduction of electronic
identification in 2006 might cost some £100 million in Great
Britain. Costs of £4 million or more would also be incurred
by the Government, principally as a result of introducing a system
of movement documents, and the Minister points out that, because
of the proposed linkage with sheep subsidy payments (which in
the UK amounted to around £182 million in 2001), a risk of
disallowance could arise if farmers do not comply fully with the
requirements. Finally, he says there could be increased enforcement
costs, but that these cannot at present be quantified.
4.9 The Minister also refers in his Explanatory Memorandum
to the possible timetable in the Council. He points out that implementation
by 1 July 2003 would require adoption early this year, but that,
even then, the UK could not realistically meet this consistently
with meeting standard procedures for consultation on new legislation.
Conclusion
4.10 It is clear that these proposals could have major
cost and practical implications for the UK industry, and that
considerably more work is needed in order to quantify these. We
will therefore await the Regulatory Impact Assessment which the
Minister has promised to provide in a month's time before considering
the matter further.
16
OJ No. L.355, 5.12.92, p.32. Back
17
OJ No. L.355, 5.12.92, p.1. Back
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