The European Commission announced, on Friday 15 October, that it has launched a public consultation on an “ambitious” revision of animal welfare legislation.
The EU institution plans to present proposals within two years.
For Stella Kyriakides, the European Commissioner for Health, “animal welfare is a benchmark for civilised societies”. “Sustainable food production could not be achieved without it, which is why it is a pillar of our ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy”, she added.
The consultation, which will last until 21 January 2022, should allow for the collection of opinions from the general public and stakeholders on a wide range of topics. It follows up on a roadmap published last summer which received almost a thousand comments (see EUROPE 12758/21).
The aim of the revision is, according to the Commission, to ensure a higher level of animal welfare, to bring EU legislation in line with the latest scientific evidence and to broaden the scope of the texts.
EU Agriculture Ministers welcomed suggestions from five Member States (Denmark, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden) that the Commission should make the new rules more effective and cover more species, including domestic pets (see EUROPE 12810/11).
Link to the public consultation: https://bit.ly/3DJ30bd (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)