At the Agriculture Council on Monday 19 October, Ministers from 15 EU countries called for a one-year postponement of the entry into force of the new animal health rules due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. But the European Commission refused.
Regulation 2016/429 on transmissible animal diseases and amending certain acts in the field of animal health is due to enter into force on 21 April 2021.
In view of the current difficulties encountered by the agricultural sector, roughly 15 Ministers (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Spain) recommend postponing the entry into force of these rules by one year (https://bit.ly/3jfbix0 ).
The Commission has been willing to help countries transpose the new rules, but is “not in favour” of postponing the date of application. This will “delay the measures requested by stakeholders and delay the implementation of other rules”, said Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.
Derogations for local slaughter and processing activities. At that EU Council meeting, the French Minister, Julien Denormandie, on behalf of the Austrian, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and Czech delegations, asked for an extension of the existing derogation on hygiene rules for local slaughter and processing activities. Latvia said that it supported this request. The derogation expires at the end of 2020.
Regulation 853/2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin does not apply to the direct supply by the producer of small quantities of meat from poultry and rabbits slaughtered on the farm to the final consumer or to the local retail establishment. “We do not have the legal possibility to extend these measures. This must be done through the ordinary legislative procedure. We will consider how to respond to the request”, the Commissioner replied. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)