Brussels, 21/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Monday 21 February, most EU agriculture ministers opposed any delay to the deadline of 1 January 2012 by which date conventional battery cages for laying hens must have been replaced. The European Commission complained that it had too little information at its disposal on the implementation by companies of Council Directive 1999/74/EC establishing minimum standards for the protection of laying hens. It gave member states until 1 April 2011 to provide it with the information it requires.
Poland, with the support of Romania and Bulgaria, called for: - either the postponement of the 1 January 2012 deadline for the end of conventional cages; - or a derogation for companies which had not managed to fully comply with the new standards.
The other countries which spoke, such as Germany, the United Kingdom and France, opposed the Polish request to push back the 1 January 2012 deadline, arguing that this would mean unfair treatment towards those farmers who had already made the investment needed to come up to the new standards. France also stressed that is was import that imported products met the same standards as those imposed on EU farmers.
Council Directive 1999/74/EC distinguishes between three systems of farming laying hens: - in enriched cages with a minimum of 750 cm² of cage area per bird; - in non-enriched cages with a minimum area of 550 cm² per bird: the construction of this type of cage has been banned since I January 2003 and this system will be completely prohibited from January 2012; - cageless systems with laying nests (at least one nest per seven hens) and appropriate perches. Hens reared in enriched cages and in cageless systems must have laying nests, perch space of at least 15 cm per bird, litter so that pecking and scratching are possible and unrestricted access to feeding troughs, with each bird having at least 12 cm of trough for feeding. (L.C./transl.rt)