Luxembourg, 24/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Agriculture Council on Tuesday adopted without debate three decisions to improve animal welfare, namely:
- A decision authorising the Commission to participate in the Council of Europe's negotiations on reviewing the European Convention on Protecting Animals in International Transport which has been in force since 20 February 1971 and has been the subject of a review procedure since 1995.
- A directive setting minimum welfare standards for pigs (see EUROPE of 21 June, p.14) banning keeping gestating sows in individual stalls and tying sows and piglets up. The directive also includes rules to improve the living conditions of pigs and piglets (minimum size of box stalls for sows and permanent access to food containing fibre and material for rooting).
- A directive on combating classic swine fever (see EUROPE of 20 June 2001, p.5) to strengthen existing measures in line with experience acquired in the last few years due to the explosion of swine fever cases in regions with a high density of pig farms. The directive will come into force in July 2002 and bans feeding pigs pigswill. The new measures add weight to the EU's policy of not vaccinating but slaughtering all pigs on infected farms without ruling out the use of emergency marker vaccines.