1 PROTECTION OF ANIMALS
DURING TRANSPORT
(a)
(22357)
7969/01
COM(01) 197
+ ADD 1
|
Commission Report on the application of the different ventilation systems for
animal transport vehicles for road journeys exceeding eight hours
Draft Council Regulation amending Regulation (EC) No. 411/98 as regards
ventilation in road vehicles carrying livestock on long journey
|
(b)
(24774)
11794/03
COM(03) 425
|
Commission Communication on the protection of animals during transport
Draft Council Regulation on the protection of animals during transport and related operations and amending Directives 64/432/EEC and 93/119/EEC
|
| Legal base | Article 37 EC; consultation; QMV
|
| Department | Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
|
| Basis of consideration |
SEM of 29 March 2004 |
| Previous Committee Reports
| (a) HC 152-i (2001-02), para 14 (18 July 2001)
(b)HC 63-xxxvii (2002-03), para 2 (12 November 2003)
|
| To be discussed in Council
| 26-27 April 2004 |
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | For debate in European Standing Committee A
|
Background
1.1 The Commission regards transport as the most controversial
aspect of animal welfare, and, in December 2000, it brought forward
a Communication[1] on the
experience acquired by Member States since the relevant Council
Directive (91/28/EEC) was last amended in 1995.[2]
The Commission said that some of actions recommended had already
been initiated, including a proposal in April 2001 (document (a))
to improve the ventilation standards of vehicles used for long-distance
journeys, but that most could only be addressed by amendments
to the current legislation. It therefore sought to do this in
July 2003 by proposing (document (b)) that existing Community
laws on the protection of animals during transport should be repealed,
and replaced by a new measure, which would also subsume the earlier
proposal on ventilation standards.
1.2 Among other things, the proposal aims to:
- set stricter journey times
and space allowances;
- improve the mandatory training of personnel;
- ban the transport of very young animals, and
set out clearer definitions for when animals are unfit for transport;
- set up stricter welfare standards for the transport
of horses;
- upgrade technical standards for road vehicles;
and
- introduce specific requirements for all livestock
vessels operating from Community ports.
1.3 As we noted in our Report of 12 November 2003,
the Government considered that the proposals were broadly in accord
with UK policy, but had nevertheless identified a number of potentially
contentious or difficult issues. These included the use of a
Regulation rather than a Directive; the arrangements for the inspection
and approval of means of transport; the proposals affecting fitness
for transport; those on journey times and the associated higher
standards and space allowances for long-distance journeys; and
the proposal that animals would no longer have to be rested during
long-distance journeys at approved staging points, but could be
rested in the vehicle at any premises and without veterinary supervision.
We also noted that the full implications for the UK of new journey
times would not be clear until consultation and negotiation had
been completed, but that the greatest impact was expected to be
on the relatively small long-distance slaughter trade in sheep.
1.4 However, we were also told that revised proposals
were expected to be published following discussion by a Council
Working Group of Veterinary Experts and Chief Veterinary Officers,
and would be the subject of a further Explanatory Memorandum and
a Regulatory Impact Assessment. We therefore said that, although
the proposals clearly touched upon an important area of public
interest, which we felt that the House would wish to consider
further before any decisions were taken by the Council, we thought
it would be sensible to consider the amended proposals before
making any formal debate recommendation. We also commented that
it was thus all the more important that any further developments
should be drawn to our attention in good time, and that we would
like the Minister to confirm that the earlier proposal on ventilation
standards, on which we had requested further information on 18
July 2001, had now been formally withdrawn by the Commission.
Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum
1.5 In his supplementary Explanatory Memorandum of
29 March 2004, the Minister for Nature Conservation and Fisheries
at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Mr
Ben Bradshaw) says that, in the light of the anticipated discussions
by veterinarians, a revised text has now been produced. This
has not been made available to us, but the Minister summarises
it as having the following effects:
MAXIMUM JOURNEY TIMES
1.6 Instead of the original proposal, which involved
a cycle of 9 hours travel, followed by 12 hours rest, journeys
of 9 hours would be followed by 2 hours rest and a further 9 hours
travel —
a cycle which may be repeated following a 12 hour rest period
off the vehicle (on the vehicle for pigs) at an approved staging
point; there would also be a derogation permitting the second
9 hour leg of a journey to be extended by 3 hours if the final
destination can be reached in this time.
1.7 The Minister comments that this would go some
way to restricting long-distance transport of slaughter/fattening
animals across the Community, but enable the high-value breeding
business to continue, and that it would also continue to allow
the normal movement of stock through UK livestock markets and
agricultural shows, and the movement of animals in and from the
more remote areas, such as the Highlands and Islands. He also
notes that a decision on whether the number of journey cycles
should be limited will be taken by the Agriculture Council.
EXPORT OF HORSES TO SLAUGHTER
1.8 The Minister comments that this is an issue of
particular concern to the UK, and that the proposal now contains
Community-wide welfare-based protection, under which unbroken
horses would be restricted to short (9 hour) journeys in groups
of no more than four; all long-distance journeys for horses would
have to be in individual partitions; and all horses would have
to be in individual partitions if carried in vehicles on roll-on/roll-off
ferries. There would be exemptions for mares and foals at foot
from single partitions, and for registered horses from journey
time restrictions.
1.9 In addition, the Minister says that:
- journeys of under 50 km from
farms would exempted from all but the basic requirements;
- harmonised recognised standards of training would
now need to be documented by independent assessment;
- the proposal would revert to current requirements
as regards vehicle standards, subject to further scientific advice;
- higher space allowance would be provided for
long-distance transport;
- although the requirement for route logs would
not be as sophisticated as that currently in force in the UK (which
include a contemporaneous record of the journey, which must be
returned within 15 days of its end), the simpler system was thought
likely to encourage greater compliance;
- there would be a new requirement for all long-distance
road vehicles to have electronic tracking systems installed within
30 months of the Regulation coming into effect; and
- the current welfare provision, limiting the time
during which electric goads may be applied to animals in limited
conditions, would be reduced from two seconds to one second.
1.10 The Minister also says that his Department carried
out a formal consultation on the proposals between July and October
2003, and that the results have been made available in accordance
with its policy on openness. He does not, however, go on to tell
us what those results were.
1.11 The Minister has enclosed with his supplementary
Explanatory Memorandum a Regulatory Impact Assessment, which he
says is based on the revised proposal. However, this makes it
clear that a monetary value cannot be put on the benefits arising
from improved welfare, and that it is also not possible to quantify
the costs of the time limit imposed on journey lengths, the age
limits proposed for the transport of young animals, the cost of
vehicle and vessel inspections, or the implications of the proposed
new provisions on training. On the basis of the limited information
which is available, the Assessment suggests that the costs for
a long-distance transporter would be between £5,200 and £8,700,
whilst for other commercial livestock hauliers they would be between
£600 and £1,500, but presumably the actual costs would
be considerably larger.
Conclusion
1.12 It is always difficult, particularly with
a detailed and technical area such as this, to assess the impact
of a proposal when it repeals existing legislation and replaces
it by a new measure. That difficulty is compounded in this case
by the late emergence of new text, which we have not seen, but
which clearly makes a number of further significant changes.
These considerations, together with the evident difficulty which
the Government has encountered in establishing a meaningful Regulatory
Impact Assessment, the continuing uncertainty over the status
of the earlier proposal on ventilation standards, and the lack
of any concrete information about the outcome of the Government's
consultation exercise, reinforce our earlier feeling that it would
be right for these documents to be considered further.
1.13 We are therefore now recommending that they
should be debated in European Standing Committee A. In doing
so, we are conscious that the Government may come under pressure
to reach some kind of agreement at the Agriculture Council on
26-27 April, and that the timing of the Minister's latest Explanatory
Memorandum and Regulatory Impact Assessment was dictated by the
rate of progress in Brussels. Nevertheless, having flagged up
earlier the need to allow the House sufficient time to consider
these proposals if necessary, we expect the Government to maintain
a scrutiny reserve until the debate has taken place.
1 (22004) 14650/00; see HC 28-vii (2000-01), para 16
(28 February 2001). Back
2
By Directive 95/29/EC. OJ No. L 148, 30.6.95, p.52. Back
|
