Brussels, 14/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - In conclusions on animal welfare, to be adopted on Monday 18 June, the Agriculture Council encourages the Commission to “take account of existing and emerging scientific evidence concerning the welfare of animals during transport and of technological progress when in the future considering additional actions and possible future amendments to the transport regulation”. Furthermore, the Council points out that the recital of the transport regulation states that, for reasons of animal welfare, “the transport of animals over long journeys, including animals for slaughter, should be limited as far as possible”.
The Commission is invited to examine the possibility of adopting implementing rules in relation to livestock vessels and other areas where it is particularly important to ensure adequate and uniform enforcement of the legislation, such as internal height, loading densities for different weight categories of pigs, and certain standards for the approval of means of transport, including design of watering devices and the temperature monitoring system. In addition, the Council emphasises the need for measures concerning navigation systems, agrees with the Commission on the need to establish a simplified version of the journey log and calls upon the Commission to finalise actions in these respects by no later than the end of 2014. Finally, the Council calls on the Commission to aim at ensuring at least equivalence between EU and third country operators, particularly in bilateral trade agreement negotiations. (LC/transl.jl)