Brussels, 27/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - As foreseen, the European Commission decided, on Thursday 26 January, to initiate infringement procedure against France, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Romania for failure to comply with EU legislation on the welfare of laying hens. A letter of formal notice has been sent to those countries, inviting them to provide the Commission with information and to take measures to remedy their failings in the application of European legislation on animal welfare. Directive 1999/74/EC on the protection of laying hens took effect on 1st January 2012.
Member states have two months in which to answer the letter of formal notice. If they fail to give a satisfactory response, the Commission will send them a reasoned opinion, calling on them to take the necessary measures to comply with the directive within two months.
“Member states have had 12 years to ensure a smooth transition to the new system and to implement the directive. However, so far, and notwithstanding the repeated calls by the Commission, the above mentioned member states have failed to adequately comply with the EU law”, bemoans the European Commission. “Full compliance with the requirements of the directive by member states is essential. It is clear that member states that don't fulfil their legal obligations not only create consequences on animal welfare but can also cause market distortions and unfair competition. Member states who still allow the use of 'un-enriched' cages put businesses that invested in complying with the new measures at a disadvantage”, the Commission underlines. Pending full compliance with standards set, the European Commission agrees to allow eggs produced in cages that do not comply to find an outlet on the internal market of member states for industrial processing purposes.
United Kingdom, too, may be targeted. In total, 14% of European laying hens do not meet the welfare criteria fixed by the directive (750 cm2 of cage area for each hen, plus perches, nests and claw-shortening devices), i.e. 47 million animals out of the 330 million in the European Union as a whole. Malta which, initially, was one of the states targeted by the Commission, has provided elements considered satisfactory, and is therefore no longer targeted by the infringement procedure.
A fourteenth state, however, may be sent a formal letter of notice - the United Kingdom. The UK had announced that all its hen breeding conditions were in line with EU regulations but had finally noticed that 1% did not comply. London has undertaken to resolve the problem. If this is not done, the Commission will trigger infringement procedure against it next month. In France, 8% of all laying hens, i.e. 93 farms, do not comply with the standards set. In Italy, 18 million laying hens out of 39 million in that country are bred in unlawful conditions. The Czech Republic has blocked imports of eggs from Poland. And Germany has warned that it will not tolerate unlawful competition, especially from the Netherlands, when German producers have made the required investment to comply with EU standards.
Commission action does not restrict itself to infringement procedures alone. From this spring, inspectors from the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) will travel to member states to verify whether the directive is being implemented correctly.
Furthermore, the Commission is expected to present a report in March on the state of progress on implementation of the regulation on the welfare of gestating sows, which is to take effect on 1st January 2013. The aim of this is to encourage member states to act in order to prevent any further infringement procedures from being launched next year for non-compliance with the regulations. (LC/transl.jl)