TSE ROADMAP (11408/05)
Letter from Ben Bradshaw MP, Minister
for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare, Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the Chairman
I am writing to you to update your Committee
about progress on this dossier following my letter to you of 28
November of last year.[95]
The UK Presidency worked closely with the Commission,
Council and European Parliament to draw together views from Member
States on the TSE Roadmap. The Council's view of the Roadmap was
presented on 19 December. The Council agreed that the key objectives
of consumer protection and control and eradication of TSEs must
be maintained; that any change must be underpinned by a sound
scientific basis; and that the justification for any changes must
be carefully and effectively communicated to consumers and other
interested groups. The general view was that the areas covered
by the Roadmap would be the basis for discussions on changes but
that there were some higher priority areas than others.
The Austrian Presidency has been focusing on
making changes to the TSE Regulation, I reported on progress with
this in my letter to you of 8 May and has not further discussed
the Roadmap. However, EU Chief Veterinary Officers are due to
discuss the priorities for change arising from the Roadmap at
a meeting on 8 June.
Two areas covered by the Roadmap have been taken
forward separately. These are the lifting of the UK export ban
and the increase in the age at which bovine vertebral column must
be removed and destroyed as Specified Risk Material (SRM). The
age threshold was increased from 12 months to 24 months with effect
from 1 January 2006 except in the UK where we continued to remove
vertebral column only in cattle aged over 30 months under the
pre-existing EU derogation. However, when the EU export ban was
lifted on 2 May, the UK was required to harmonise our SRM controls
with the rest of the EU and vertebral column in cattle aged over
24 months became SRM. These changes were subject to consultation
and I attach the associated Regulatory Impact Assessment, a signed
copy of which has been placed in the House.
In line with advice from SEAC, the UK is pressing
the Commission to bring forward proposals to increase the EU age
limit for vertebral column removal to 30 months.
I will continue to update your Committee on
progress on this dossier and to provide Regulatory Impact Assessments
when significant specific proposals come forward for changes to
BSE controls arising from the Roadmap.
22 May 2006
Annex A
FULL REGULATORY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
1. TITLE OF
PROPOSAL
BSE: lifting the ban on the export of bovines
and bovine products and harmonising Specified Risk Material (SRM)
controls applicable in the UK with those in other EU member states.
2. PURPOSE AND
INTENDED EFFECT
Objective
Legislative action to:
— enable the resumption of exports
from the UK of eligible bovines and bovine products by repealing
the Bovines and Bovine Products (Trade) Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/1103)
and amending the TSE (England) Regulations 2006; and
— harmonise controls on bovine vertebral
column, head meat and other SRM with the EU requirements that
apply in other EU Member States by amending the TSE (England)
Regulations 2006.
Background
BSE was first identified in the UK in 1986.
More than 183,000 cases have been confirmed in the UK to date,
of which more than 95% were detected before 2000. In March 1996,
the EU imposed a comprehensive, worldwide ban on the export of
bovine and bovine products from the UK due to fears about the
risks to human health posed by BSE. The GB legislation which currently
implements the EU ban is the Bovines and Bovine Products (Trade)
Regulations 1999 (SI No 1103). This legislation applies to live
cattle, beef, beef products, bovine by-products and mammalian
meat and bone meat. Parallel legislation implements the ban in
Northern Ireland. Under this legislation, beef from animals slaughtered
in the UK can only be exported under the Date Based Export (DBES)
Scheme, and products made from imported beef can only be exported
under the XAP (eXport APproved) Scheme. Both these Schemes are
onerous to implement. Only relatively small quantities of UK beef
have been exported under DBES.
On 8 March 2006, the EU Standing Committee on
the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) adopted unanimously
a favourable opinion on a proposed European Commission Regulation
to lift the embargo on UK exports of live cattle, beef and beef
products. The Commission Regulation comes into effect on 2 May
2006. The Regulation includes some restrictions on exports that
had previously been discussed with UK industry who had agreed
that these were acceptable to achieve a speedy lifting of the
ban with the support of all Member States.
Under the Commission Regulation, the UK is required
to ensure that the following conditions are met:
(1) cattle born before 1 August 1996 must
not be exported;
(2) products from any cattle slaughtered
before 15 June 2005 must not be exported;
(3) beef containing vertebral column, or
any product derived from vertebral column, from cattle slaughtered
before 2 May must not be exported; and
(4) SRM controls already applicable in other
Member States must be implemented. These are as follows:
— vertebral column shall be classified
as SRM in cattle aged over 24 months (at present the UK has a
derogation to classify vertebral column as SRM only in cattle
aged over 30 months at slaughter);
— the skull, exluding the mandible
but including the brain and eyes shall be SRM from 12 months of
age (at present the entire head is SRM from six months of age);
— spinal cord shall be SRM in animals
over 12 months of age (at present the spinal cord is SRM in animals
over six months of age); and
— trigeminal ganglia, thymus and spleen
shall no longer be classified as SRM.
EU legislation requires Member States to remove
vertebral column in licensed cutting plants but includes a derogation
permitting them to allow removal of vertebral column at authorised,
monitored and registered butcher's shops. Simlarly, EU legislation
requires removal of head meat at slaughterhouses but permits Member
States to allow removal at authorised licensed cutting plants.
The FSA Board agreed on 9 March to allow the removal of vertebral
column at butcher's shops but for the time being to restrict the
removal of head meat to slaughterhouses. The possibility of allowing
the removal of head meat in cutting plants would be reviewed in
the summer.
Rationale for Government intervention
BSE was first identified in the UK in 1986.
More than 183,000 cases have been confirmed in the UK to date,
of which more than 95% were detected before 2000. The epidemic
peaked at an annual total of more than 37,000 clinical cases in
1992 and the number of new clinical cases is currently at the
lowest level since recording began. There were 39 clinical cases
and 186 cases detected through testing in 2005, the vast majority
in cattle born before August 1996. The UK's reinforced feed controls
which banned mammalian meat and bone meal from feed for all farmed
livestock, effective from 1 August 1996, have led to a particulary
sharp fall in BSE cases in cattle born after July 1996.
In 1995, the last full year before exports were
banned, UK exports of beef and bovine products were valued at
almost £600 million and exports of live cattle were valued
at almost £78 million. From the time that the export ban
was applied, it has been Government policy to seek its removal
for products permitted for sale on our domestic market.
UK legislation must be brought into line with
EU legislation as soon as possible after the EU legislation comes
into force. It this is not done, the Bovines and Bovine Products
(Trade) Regulations 1999 will remain on the statute book but will
be open to legal challenge and judicial review.
Unless the TSE (England) Regulations 2006 are
amended it will not be possible to enforce a 24 months age limit
(as opposed to the current 30 months age limit) for the removal
of vertebral column or to make use of the derogation allowing
removal in specifically authorised butcher's shops.
Similarly, it will be necessary to amend the
TSE (England) Regulations 2006 to enable the UK to enforce the
less restrictive (other than for vertebral column) list of SRM
that will apply given the change in the UK's BSE risk status.
Some 2.4 million UK cattle are expected to be
slaughtered for human consumption per year. This includes an additional
0.4 million cattle aged over thirty months (OTM) that became eligible
for sale for human consumption from 7 November 2005 when the OTM
rule that excluded them from the market was replaced by BSE testing
for cattle born after July 1996. It is especially important to
allow exports in the light of additional supplies of UK cattle
on the UK market, and also to apply the new SRM controls as soon
as possible.
3. CONSUMPTION
The consultation on the anticipated changes
to UK legislation began on 12 October 2005 with a closing date
for comments of 4 January 2006.
During the consultation period, a supplementary
consultation on the export of cattle from the Irish Republic through
the UK (the "UK landbridge") was launched on 14 December
2005 with a closing date of 27 January 2006.
The EU Regulations will affect those who keep
and sell cattle, hauliers, abattoirs, cutting plants, the meat
processing industry, renderers, incinerators, independent butchers
and other retailers, the catering industry, consumers, port authorities
and those who would wish to export, or transport for export, beef,
bovine products and live cattle. It will also be important to
those concerned with the welfare of cattle and live exports. All
these interest groups were consulted.
The consultation documents and the summary of
responses have been placed online on the Defra website. A total
of 74 responses were received to the main consultation and four
to the supplementary consultation.
Responses to the consultation
Responses to the consultation relating to lifting
the export ban were very strongly in favour of allowing trade
in beef and bovine products to resume. Responses from farming
organisations, cattle breeders and cattle exporters were in favour
of lifting the ban for the export of cattle. This was opposed
by animal welfare groups and others who are opposed to the principle
of exporting live animals and who are concerned about the potential
for cattle to be subject to longer journey times than would otherwise
arise. Some respondents to the consultation exercise expressed
concern that the Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment did not
take sufficient account of the welfare of animals undergoing export.
Responses to the consultation exercise were
overwhelmingly in favour of allowing vertebral column from cattle
aged 24-30 months to be removed in authorised butcher's shops
which are monitored and registered for that purpose. There is
no intention to make use of the option provided in the EU Regulation
to allow vertebral column from cattle aged over 30 months to be
removed in butcher's shops because the Food Standards Agency's
Independent Advisory Group on replacing the OTM rule by testing
recommended that vertebral column from OTM cattle should be removed
in licensed cutting plants only.
Opinion was divided on the derogation for head
meat to be removed at specially authorised licensed cutting plants.
The Food Standards Agency has decided not to implement this derogation
for the present; it will be reviewed in summer 2006.
4. OPTIONS FOR
ACHIEVING THE
POLICY OBJECTIVE
Option 1—Do Nothing
Now that the EU has agreed to allow the resumption
of exports of UK cattle born after July 1996 and of beef and bovine
products from bovines born or reared in the UK after this date
(subject to the exceptions set out under "Background"
above) the UK must make the necessary implementing legislation.
If this is not done, existing UK legislation in relation to both
exports and SRM controls will be open to legal challenge and judicial
review and there would be a period of legal uncertainty. Were
the matter to come before a Court, the probable consequence of
failure to reflect at national level the lifting at EU level of
the export ban would be that inconsistent national legislation
would be held unenforceable. The UK would be unable to enforce
the removal of vertebral column from cattle aged over 24 months
(instead of 30 months as now) and there would also be legal uncertainty
about whether UK industry could sell head meat for human consumption.
Option 2—Amend UK legislation to administer
and enforce EU legislation without making use of EU derogations
This would involve repealing the Bovines and
Bovine Products (Trade) Regulations 1999 and amending the TSE
(England) Regulations 2006 to reflect EU legislation. However,
the UK would not allow either vertebral column from cattle aged
24-30 months to be removed in authorised butcher's shops or head
meat to be removed in authorised licensed cutting plants. Instead,
vertebral column from all cattle aged over 24 months would need
to be removed in cutting plants additionally licensed for this
purpose and head meat could be removed only at abattoirs.
Cattle born before 1 August 1996 will remain
permanently excluded from the food chain and from export. No product
from any animal slaughtered before 15 June 2005 would be exported,
and no beef containing vertebral column, or any product derived
from vertebral column, from any animal slaughtered before 2 May
would be exported.
Option 3—Amend UK legislation to administer
and enforce EU legislation, making use of EU derogations
This would involve repealing the Bovines and
Bovine Products (Trade) Regulations 1999 and amending the TSE
(England) Regulations 2006 to reflect EU legislation as above
but in addition including the permitted derogations to allow vertebral
column from cattle aged 24-30 months to be removed in authorised
butcher's shops and head meat to be removed in authorised licensed
cutting plants.
Option 3A—Amend UK legislation to administer
and enforce EU legislation, making use only of the EU derogation
to allow vertebral column to be removed in authorised butcher's
shops
As at Option 3 above but head meat could be
removed only in abattoirs.
5. COSTS AND
BENEFITS
Sectors and groups affected
The EU Regulation will affect those who keep
and sell cattle, hauliers, abattoirs, cutting plants, the meat
processing industry, renderers, incinerators, independent butchers
and other retailers, the catering industry, consumers, port authorities
and those who would wish to export or transport for export beef,
bovine products and live cattle. It will also be important to
those concerned with the welfare of cattle and live exports. There
will also be implications for enforcement agencies dealing with
the meat industry and exports.
There are implications for small businesses
particularly in rural areas because, if the derogation allowing
the removal of vertebral column in butcher's shops is not implemented
for cattle aged 24-30 months, the EU Regulation would adversely
affect farmers who keep slow maturing grass fed cattle and small
abattoirs without cutting plants who currently supply craft butchers
with half or quarter carcases. Craft butchers who currently purchase
half or quarter carcases to mature and bone out in their shops
would also be affected if they wished to continue to sell meat
from cattle aged 24-30 months but it had to be de-boned in cutting
plants. Consumers would also be unable to buy T-bone steaks derived
from cattle aged over 24 months although T-bone steaks from cattle
aged less than 24 months would continue to be available. Some
50% of cattle aged under 30 months currently slaughtered for human
consumption are aged over 24 months.
There are no significant human health implications
either in increasing conrols on vertebral column or, assuming
compliance with EU rules to avoid contamination, in reducing controls
on head meat.
The EU Regulation does not have any race equality
impacts.
Analysis of Cost and Benefits
Option 1—Do Nothing
Costs
Industry would be denied the opportunity to
export beef, bovine products and live cattle without breaking
UK law. Thereby, industry would potentially be denied access to
improved returns either directly from overseas markets or as a
function of strengthening of the whole UK market because surplus
domestic supplies can be exported. This is particularly important
now that the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule has been replaced by
BSE testing from 7 November 2005, which has released additional
supplies of beef from older cattle onto the UK market.
Those who currently export UK beef from eligible
cattle aged 6-30 months under the Date-based Export Scheme (DBES)
or beef of foreign origin under the eXport APproved (XAP) Scheme
would continue to face the significant additional costs of exporting
under these schemes. For DBES, these costs include approval and
inspection costs (currently £3,200 in first year and £2,160
thereafter); eligibility checks at about £1.75 per animal;
and the costs of additional Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) inspection,
currently about £1,000 per DBES period. For the XAP Scheme,
there are parallel approval and inspection costs (currently £560
per year) and the costs of additional inspection by the Meat Hygiene
Service (MHS) or Local Veterinary Inspectors (LVIs). In addition,
plants operating DBES or XAP incur high overheads due to the onerous
conditions for these schemes, including separate slaughter runs
and cleandowns for DBES and segregated preparation areas for XAP.
Both schemes require a high level of official supervision.
The Government would face legal costs if it
were to try to maintain a ban on the export of beef or live cattle
or to refuse to allow industry to reclaim head meat contrary to
EU law. The Government would also be vulnerable to challenge in
the European Court if it failed to enforce an EU requirement to
remove vertebral column as SRM from cattle aged 24-30 months.
Other Member States might also then refuse to accept imports of
UK beef products. The industry would—as above—be denied
the opportunity to sell head meat until the legal position had
been clarified. We estimate that the value could be about 30p
per carcase or £0.6 million assuming head meat is reclaimed
from about 2.0 million of the 2.4 million cattle currently sold
for human consumption per year. The costs of disposal as SRM would
be saved but these costs are relatively small.
In addition, the industry would be required
to remove and destroy a longer list of SRM than other EU Member
States (except vertebral column from cattle aged 24-30 months—see
below).
Benefits
The Government prefers a trade in meat to the
long distance transport of live animals to slaughter, whether
in the UK or across borders and would like to see a lower limit
for journey times. However, the decision to lift the ban means
that the UK must implement EU law and cannot place a unilateral
ban on the export of cattle including calves, because to do so
would contravene free trade rules and would be illegal under EU
law. If the ban were not lifted, the Government would not incur
the costs of checking the welfare of live cattle during transport
or the costs of policing any demonstrations.
The UK would not apply new restrictions to vertebral
column from cattle aged 24-30 months. This would enable farmers
and those in the meat trade to continue selling bone-in beef to
butchers from animals aged 24-30 months.
Option 2—Amend UK legislation to administer
and enforce EU legislation without making use of EU derogations
Costs
The Government would incur the costs of checking
the welfare of live cattle during transport and the costs of policing
any demonstrations. There would also be social costs in that protestors,
local residents, and those involved in the trade would also be
affected by protests. The Government portal surveillance checks
would continue in a modified form, to monitor exports of beef
and bovine products for illegal items eg beef or products from
animals slaughtered before 15 June 2005.
Application of SRM controls to vertebral column
from cattle aged over 24 months would be most unwelcome to farmers,
abattoirs and butchers, but the industry has agreed that securing
exports is the priority. However, industry has also pressed hard
for the UK to make use of the EU derogation to allow removal of
vertebral column in butcher's shops. With some 50% UK cattle aged
under 30 months likely to be finished by 24 months, there should
be enough cattle of sufficient (if not ideal) quality to allow
trade to continue. The main difficulty with a 24 months limit
is the impact it could have on:
— farmers producing slower maturing
grass-fed cattle;
— about 110 small slaughterhouses without
linked cutting plants;
— about 30 further abattoirs with cutting
plants that cannot accommodate all the cattle they slaugher; and
Although significant in presentational terms,
sales of T-bone steaks account for only 0.2% retail sales or about
£4 million per year, and 0.5% catering sales or about £5
million per year. Rib roasts could still contain the rib. If the
UK were to require vertebral column to be removed in licensed
cutting plants, small abattoirs will be unable to provide sides,
quarters or primary cuts containing vertebral column direct to
butchers for boning out unless these are derived from cattle aged
under 24 months. Carcases from cattle aged 24-30 months would
need to be routed via the nearest cutting plant, which might be
some considerable distance away. This would not be a practical
option for many abattoirs. The impact would be greatest in the
north and west where more meat is sold through traditional butchers.
There are some 7,000 independent butchers in
the UK. Not all trade in meat is in carcase form but it is estimated
by the Meat and Livestock Commission that some 26% of all beef
sold from abattoirs to trade customers is traded as bone-in hind
or forequarters of beef. Butchers who currently buy beef in carcase
form would be unable to buy such carcases from cattle aged 24-30months
containing vertebral column, but meat from older grass fed cattle
is often the most desirable. Whilst butchers in general are increasingly
buying boneless meat, there are many well established small craft
businesses that bring valuable custom to small towns. Without
traditional butchers, such custom might go elsewhere.
Most vertebral column from cattle aged 24-30
months is already removed in cutting plants. The costs for cutting
plants of staining and disposal of vertebral column as SRM rather
than lower category waste are expected to be slightly higher.
These costs will vary according to throughput and might amount
to an increase of perhaps £200,000 per year. There will also
be additional enforcement costs.
Consumers may find it difficult to understand
why a ban on vertebral column from cattle aged 24-30 months is
being reintroduced at a time when the BSE epidemic is in sharp
decline and why consumer choice is being restricted. This could
affect consumer confidence in beef if not carefully explained.
Industry would not be able to reclaim head meat
in any cutting plants.
Benefits
The export trade could resume.
The tables below show the tonnage and value
of beef and live cattle exported during 1994 and 1995, the last
two full years of trading before the export ban was imposed. Under
the Date Based Export Scheme only small quantities of beef have
been exported to several EU member states.
BEEF AND BOVINE PRODUCTS
|
| 1994 |
1995 |
| Tonnage | Value
| Tonnage | Value
|
|
| 212,442 | £486,221,000
| 245,093 | £583,560,000
|
|
LIVE CATTLE
|
| 1994 |
1995 |
| Numbers | Value
| Numbers | Value
|
|
| 481,000 | £89,716,000
| 450,000 | £77,624,000
|
|
Trading conditions, particularly exchange rates, are very
different today and it would take time to rebuild the beef and
bovine products export trade, which may never reach pre-1996 levels.
The MLC estimate that in 2006 UK exports could be about 40,000
tonnes divided equally between prime beef and cow beef. The value
of this might be about £60 million but should increase rapidly
in future years.
There is strong overseas interest in high quality breeding
stock and in calves, many of which are currently shot at birth.
The UK would apply all the provisions of EU law relevant to normal
trade between Member States, including rules to protect the welfare
of cattle during transport. It is estimated that high value breeding
stock worth some £5 million and 200,000 calves worth some
£20 million might be exported during 2006. These figures
would be expected to increase in future years.
Industry would benefit being able to reclaim head meat albeit
only in slaughterhouses. This trade could be worth some £0.6
million based on 30p per head x 2 million (out of 2.4 million)
cattle slaughtered for human consumption per year.
On the basis of a scientific risk assessment by the Spongiform
Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) the public health benefits
of appying a lower age limit to the removal of vertebral column
are assessed to be negligible.
Option 3—Amend UK legislation to administer and enforce
EU legislation making use of EU derogations
Costs
Additional enforcement costs associated with supervising
exports of live cattle: as for Option 2 above.
Social costs associated with exports of live cattle: as for
Option 2 above.
Portal surveillance costs to check compliance with EU restrictions
on exports: as for Option 2 above.
Butcher's shops would have to arrange and pay for disposal
as SRM of vertebral column from cattle aged 24-30 months if they
chose to apply for authorisation. Disposal costs would vary according
to local circumstance from nothing where waste is already incinerated
at a plant approved to incinerate SRM to about £100 per week.
Additional enforcement costs incurred by local authorities
would be minimal because no separate special visits to butcher's
shops are required and checks could be carried out as part of
routine LA inspections of butcher's shops. There would be no increase
in risk because current UK legislation allows butchers to handle
and sell without restriction vertebral column from cattle aged
under 30 months.
As most vertebral column will continue to be removed in licensed
cutting plants, additional enforcement costs will be incurred
in cutting plants too. It is expected that these will be similar
to those in Option 2 as the number of plants processing vertebral
column from cattle aged 24-30 months is likely to be similar.
Additional MHS staff would be required to audit the removal
of head meat in cutting plants.
Consumer confidence—as for Option 2 above.
Benefits
For exports—as for Option 2 above.
For SRMs—butcher's shops could apply for authorisation
to remove vertebral column and thus could continue to handle beef
from cattle aged 24-30 months in carcase form. Cutting plants
could apply for authorisation to remove head meat and would welcome
the flexibility and potential cost efficiency of being able to
do so, especially when a cutting plant is co-located with an abattoir.
UK would apply a shorter list of SRMs (except that vertebral
column from cattle aged 24-30 months would become SRM).
Option 3A—Amend UK legislation to administer and enforce
EU legislation, making use only of the EU derogation to allow
vertebral column to be removed in authorised butcher's shops
Costs
As for Option 3 above but with no additional MHS costs associated
with checking that the requirements for the removal of head meat
in authorised cutting plants have been met. Cutting plants would
continue to be unable to remove head meat.
Benefits
As for Option 3 above but avoiding any risk of contamination
of head meat with brain tissue during transport to cutting plants
and enabling head meat to be removed at abattoirs where the Meat
Hygiene Service is always present.
Summary of costs and benefits
|
| Option | Costs
| Benefits |
|
| Option 1—Do Nothing | 1. Industry denied the opportunity to export UK beef, bovine products and live cattle—£85 million in 2006, but expected to increase.
2. Costs of exporting under DBES and XAP schemes would continue—£10,000 per plant per year (but depends on throughput).
3. Legal costs to Government if it tries to maintain the ban contrary to EU law.
4. Industry denied the opportunity to sell head meat—£0.6 million.
5. Industry required to remove a longer list of SRM than other EU Member States.
| 1. Savings on the cost of policing demonstrations against live exports.
2. Farmers and those in the meat trade can continue to sell bone-in beef to butchers from animals aged 24-30 months.
3. Government continues to pay for portal surveillance for non-DBES and XAP approved exports.
|
Option 2—Amend UK legislation to administer and enforce EU legislation without making use of EU derogations
| 1. Government incurs the costs of checking the welfare of live cattle during transport and of policing any demonstrations.
2. Social costs for those involved in protests—demonstrators, local residents, those involved in the trade.
3. Government incurs the costs of portal surveillance checks for bovine material from cattle slaughtered before 15 June 2005 and vertebral column from cattle slaughtered before 3 May 2006.
| 1. The export trade in beef, beef products and live cattle would resume—£85 million in 2006 but expected to increase rapidly. DBES and XAP costs cease.
2. Industry would be able to remove a shorter list of SRMs and reclaim head meat, albeit only in slaughterhouses—£0.6 million.
|
| 4. 24 months limit for vertebral column without derogation could have an adverse impact on farmers, slaughterhouses and butchers.
| |
| 5. Potential drop in consumer confidence due to ban on vertebral column from cattle aged 24-30 months.
| |
| 6. Additional enforcement and SRM disposal costs for removal of 24-30 month vertebral column in cutting plants.
| |
| 7. Industry would be unable to reclaim head meat in cutting plants.
| |
Option 3—Amend UK legislation to administer and enforce EU legislation making use of EU derogations
| 1. As for Option 2 above.
2. Butcher's shops would have to pay for disposal as SRM of vertebral column from cattle aged 24-30 months: costs could range from nothing to £100 per week depending on local circumstances.
3. Additional MHS staff would be required to oversee removal of head meat in cutting plants.
| 1. For exports—as for Option 2 above.
2. For SRMs—as for Option 2 but butcher's shops could apply for authorisation to remove vertebral column and thus could continue to handle carcases from cattle aged 24-30 months. Cutting plants could apply for authorisation to remove head meat.
|
Option 3A—As Option 3, but not allowing head meat to be removed in authorised cutting plants
| As for Option 3 but cutting plants would continue to be unable to remove head meat.
| As for Option 3 but avoiding (a) any risk of contamination of head meat with brain tissue during transport to cutting plants and (b) additional MHS costs arising from the need for a greater MHS presence in cutting plants in cutting.
|
| NB: All figures are best estimates, subject to wide margins of error.
| | |
|
Costs and benefits checklist
Option 1—Do Nothing
Economic impacts
The proposal will:
— not result in receipts or savings to the Government;
— affect the availability of goods or services in
that it will not be possible to export beef, beef products or
live bovines from the UK;
— not result in new technologies;
— not result in a change in the investment behaviour
both into the UK and UK firms overseas and into particular industries;
— not impact on levels of competition within the
affected sector;
— impact on the public sector, including the resources
of front-line delivery staff, in that the Government will have
to continue enforcing the Regulations;
— not impact on business, charities and voluntary
organisations;
— impact on foreign consumers because the export
of beef, beef products and live bovines from the UK will not
resume.
Social impacts
No change from current situation and no impact.
Environmental impacts
No change from current situation and no impact.
Options 2, 3 and 3A
Economic impacts
— Government will incur savings in enforcing the
current export ban with the abolition of the DBES and XAP Schemes
but will incur additional costs in relation to the live export
trade and in enforcing the removal of vertebral column in cattle
aged 24-30 months.
— The proposal will affect the availability of goods
or services in that it will enable the export of beef, beef products
and live bovines from the UK. The extent of these benefits will
depend on the nature and extent of the export trade.
— The proposal may result in new technologies related
to the removal of vertebral column.
— The proposal will not result in a change in the
investment behaviour both into the UK and UK firms overseas and
into particular industries.
— The proposal may impact on levels of competition
within the affected sector in that some farmers, food companies
and exporters may be able to take advantage of the lifting of
the export bans before others are ready to do so.
— The proposal will impact on the public sector
in relation to enforcement costs.
— The proposal will not impact on charities and
voluntary organisations.
— The proposal will impact on foreign consumers
because the export of beef, beef products and live bovines from
the UK will resume.
Social impacts
There are implications for small businesses particularly
in rural areas if the derogation in relation to the removal of
vertebral column in butcher's shops is not implemented. The EU
Regulation will affect farmers who keep slow maturing grass fed
cattle and small abattoirs without cutting plants who currently
supply craft butchers with half or quarter carcases. Craft butchers
who currently purchase half or quarter carcases to mature and
bone out in their shops would also be affected if they wished
to continue to sell meat from cattle aged 24-30 months but it
had to be de-boned in cutting plants. Consumers will also be unable
to buy T-bone steaks derived from cattle aged over 24 months although
they can buy T-bone steaks from cattle aged under 24 months.
Some 50% of cattle aged over 30 months currently slaughtered
for human consumption are aged under 24 months.
There are no significant human health implications either
in increasing controls on vertebral column or in reducing controls
on head meat.
The EU proposal will also have a potentially significant
social impact because it will allow the resumption of the export
of live bovines. This is opposed by animal welfare groups and
others who are opposed to the principle of exporting live animals
and who are concerned about the potential for cattle to be subject
to longer journey times than would otherwise arise. Some respondents
to the consultation exercise have expressed concern that the Partial
Regulatory Impact Assessment did not take sufficient account of
the welfare of animals undergoing export.
If live exports resume, they are likely to be met by protests
which could have a considerable impact on the lives of those committed
to this movement. Before live exports were banned in 1996, a protestor
was killed in an incident at Coventry airport. Such demonstrations,
and their policing, would also have an impact on local residents
and those travelling in the areas targeted for protest.
The EU proposal will not have any race equality impacts.
Environmental impacts
The 24 month limit for vertebral column removal may encourage
some farmers to slaughter more cattle before they reach the age
of 24 months which may encourage more intensive rearing and make
slower maturing traditional breeds less attractive. This could
have an adverse impact upon the British countryside. Respondents
to the consultation exercise have expressed their concern that
many native British breeds do not mature sufficiently quickly
to be slaughtered at 24 months and that the proposed 24 month
limit is likely to place additional restrictions on extensive
cattle grazing systems at a time when they are already very vulnerable.
Farmers may move away from slow-maturing grass fed cattle. Many
Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Environmentally Sensitive
Areas depend upon cattle grazing to ensure that they are maintained
in a favourable environmental condition. Some cattle breeds could
be lost to farming use, representing a loss to the UK's genetic
resources.
However, the lifting of the Over Thirty Months (OTM) rule
on 7 November 2005 may encourage other farmers to rear less intensively.
The most likely outcome is that fewer cattle will be slaughtered
in the 24-30 month age band.
6. SMALL FIRMS
IMPACT
There would be implications for small businesses. We have
consulted the Small Business Service (SBS) and have had face to
face discussions with representatives of the National Federation
of Meat and Food Traders, the Association of Independent Meat
Suppliers, the National Beef Association, the Food and Drink Federation,
the British Meat Processors Association, the International Meat
Trade Association, the Pet Food Manufacturers' Association and
the farming unions who all attend regular stakeholder meetings
with Defra and the FSA. Trade organisations believe that smaller
scale farms in more remote areas, smaller scale abattoirs and
independent butchers would all be disproportionately affected
by a requirement to remove the vertebral column as SRM in cattle
aged 24-30 months, especially if the UK were to require this to
be done only at cutting plants. All the organisations above have
pressed for the UK to make use of the EU derogation that allows
vertebral column to be removed in authorised butcher's shops.
They have underlined the importance to small abattoirs of being
able to handle all the cattle a farmer wishes to slaughter and
the importance to craft butchers of selling a high quality product,
differentiated from the majority of beef sold in supermarkets.
Respondents to the consultation exercise were overwhelmingly in
favour of implementing this derogation (Option 3 and 3A above).
However, opinion was divided on the derogation for head meat
to be removed at specially authorised licensed cutting plants.
The Food Standards Agency has decided not to implement this derogation
for the present: it will be reviewed in summer 2006.
7. COMPETITION ASSESSMENT
The proposals are essentially deregulatory. They would affect
a large number of small and mid-sized firms and a number of large
firms, none of which dominate the marketplace. None of the measures
prevent entry into the market by new firms and none would lead
to higher ongoing costs compared to existing firms for new or
potential entrants to the market. Smaller abattoirs without co-located
cutting plants or with small cutting plants will be affected more
than large abattoirs with co-located cutting plants. Independent
craft butchers who bone out carcase beef will be affected but
butchers who deal in or purchase only boneless beef will be unaffected.
8. ENFORCEMENT AND
SANCTIONS
The proposals are deregulatory except in relation to new
controls on vertebral column from cattle aged 24-30 months. A
new authorisation and enforcement regime has been developed for
Option 3 and 3A for the removal of vertebral column for cattle
in the 24-30 months age group using local authorities for enforcement
in authorised butcher's shops. Most vertebral column would continue
as now to be removed in licensed cutting plants. This would require
a small amount of additional input from the MHS who enforce SRM
controls in cutting plants.
Sanctions would be applied for non-compliance. It is proposed
that a person guilty of an offence under these Regulations is
liable:
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the
statutory minimum or to imprisonment for a term of three months
or both; or
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment
for a term not exceeding two years or both.
9. IMPLEMENTATION AND
DELIVERY PLAN
It is proposed that the requirements of the EU Regulation
shall be implemented by means of amendment to the TSE Regulations
2006, as the TSE (No 2) Regulations 2006.
The UK, as responsible authority, will require producers
and exporters to ensure that beef and bovine products exported
comply with the exclusions laid down in the EU Regulation. Consignments
will be monitored and selected for backtracing by the State Veterinary
Service (SVS). If any infringements are detected, the importing
country and the Commission will be notified immediately so that
the illegal goods can be detained and either returned or destroyed.
The SVS will be responsible for checking the welfare of live
cattle destined for export and for ensuring compliance with animal
welfare legislation.
The MHS will enforce SRM controls in abattoirs and cutting
plants. Local authorities will enforce SRM controls in butcher's
shops.
10. POST-IMPLEMENTATION
REVIEW
Legislation, procedures for enforcement and compliance for
exports of beef, bovine products and live bovines and for SRM
controls will be kept under close review. In addition, the FSA
will consider in the summer whether to make use of the derogation
that allows the removal of head meat in cutting plants. The EU
Food and Veterinary Office is expected to inspect UK controls
in December 2006.
11. SUMMARY AND
RECOMMENDATION
Option 1: Do Nothing
This option should not be supported because it would fail
to reflect the changes in EU legislation and would leave the UK
legislation open to judicial challenge. UK industry would be denied
the opportunity to export beef, bovine products and live cattle
until the legal situation was clarified.
Option 2: Amend UK legislation to administer and enforce EU
legislation without making use of EU derogations
This option should not be supported because it would fail
to make use of the EU derogation to allow removal of vertebral
column in butcher's shops. This would have an adverse impact upon
farmers producing slower maturing grass-fed cattle, on about 110
small slaughterhouses without linked cutting plants, on about
30 further abattoirs with cutting plants that cannot accommodate
all the cattle they slaughter, and on traditional butchers.
Option 3: Amend UK legislation to administer and enforce EU
legislation, making use of EU derogations
This option should not be supported because the FSA Board
have decided that for the time being head meat should be removed
only in abattoirs. This position will be reviewed in summer 2006
and was taken in the light of responses to the consultation and
to avoid possible contamination of head meat during transport
of heads and removal of meat in cutting plants.
Option 3A: Amend UK legislation to administer and enforce EU
legislation making use only of the EU derogation to allow vertebral
column to be removed in authorised butcher's shops
This option should be supported because it allows UK exports
to resume on, as far as possible, the same basis as for other
EU Member States. It also allows butcher's shops to continue to
remove vertebral column from cattle aged 24-30 months and is in
line with FSA's decision not to allow cutting plants to remove
head meat for the time being. This is the option favoured by the
majority of consultees.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Secretary of State approve Option
3A. This option will implement the changes in EU legislation in
domestic law and enables the resumption of exports of beef, bovine
products and live bovines with the minimum of inconvenience to
the domestic beef industry.
Letter from the Chairman to Ben Bradshaw MP
Thank you for your letter dated 22 May with Regulatory Impact
Assessment (RIA) attached which Sub Committee D (Environment and
Agriculture) considered at its meeting yesterday.
The Committee is pleased to be kept up to date with progress
on the TSE Roadmap. We welcome the lifting of the UK export ban
which took place in May. We were also pleased to be given the
opportunity to scrutinise the RIA which considered the impact
of resumption of exports of bovine products and moves to harmonise
controls on bovine vertebral column, head meat and other Specific
Risk Material with the EU requirements that apply in other EU
Member States. We fully support Option 3A identified in your RIA
which amended UK legislation to administer and enforce EU legislation
making use only of the EU derogation to allow vertebral column
to be removed in authorised butcher's shops.
15 June 2006
95
Correspondence with Ministers, 45th Report of Session 2005-06,
HL Paper 243, p 373. Back
| 
