Regulation 1099/2009 on the protection of animal welfare at the time of slaughtering, according to which ritual slaughtering without stunning must be carried out in an approved slaughterhouse, does not infringe the right to religious freedom as provided for in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, according to Advocate General Nils Wahl in findings published on Thursday 30 November (Case C-426/16).
This was Wahl's response to a preliminary question from the Dutch-speaking Court of First Instance in Brussels after a complaint had been submitted by various Muslim associations which, since 2015 and the refusal of the region of Flanders to issue approvals for temporary slaughterhouses for the ritual slaughtering of sheep without stunning, have had to use non-approved temporary slaughterhouses to meet the spike in slaughters during the traditional Islamic Feast of Sacrifice.
The region of Flanders invoked the provisions of Regulation 1099/2009 which requires ritual slaughtering without stunning to be carried out, like all other slaughters, in agreed slaughterhouses that respect the standards on hygiene for food of animal origin provided for in another regulation (853/2004).
On these bases, the Brussels court asks whether the requirements provided for in Regulation 1099/2009 for ritual slaughtering can be invalidated as they limit religious freedom for Muslims (a right guaranteed by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as by the Treaty (Article 13 TEFU).
Wahl responds in the negative, believing that none of the arguments put forward can impinge on the validity of the EU regulation on the protection of animals. In his view, the requirement provided for in the regulation is a perfectly neutral requirement as it applies regardless of the circumstances and of the type of slaughtering chosen (ritual or otherwise). In addition, the requirement to respect the health rules is also perfectly neutral as it concerns all parties that organise slaughtering.
In Wahl's view, the problem submitted to the Belgian court relates, rather, to: - a temporary difficulty with the capacity of slaughterhouses in certain geographic areas at the time of the Islamic Feast of the Sacrifice; - the costs engendered by the construction of new slaughterhouses; - the identification of actors having to shoulder these costs. None of these elements, in Wahl's view, bear any relation to the application of Regulation 1099/2009. (Original version in French by Francesco Gariazzo)