Brussels, 22/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Council will take note of a request made by the Polish delegation to postpone the date imposing the prohibition of unenriched cages for laying hens by five years. Council Directive 1999/74 lays down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens and provides that the rearing of laying hens in so called unenriched cage systems is prohibited with effect from 1January 2012. Unenriched cages are cages which do not meet certain minimum requirements for space and for facilities to express the birds' natural behaviour, such as nest, litter and perches. The building or bringing of such systems into service for the first time has already been prohibited since 1 January 2003. The new European commissioner for health, John Dalli, explained that “all member states have had sufficiently long transition periods for applying the ban (unenriched cages) by 1 January 2012 … a postponement would only break the positive dynamic created by member states that have already put a ban on the production of battery eggs”. (L.C./transl.fl)