Brussels, 10/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday the European Commission adopted a new regulation to tighten up rules governing export refunds for live cattle. The new regulation will apply to export declarations accepted from 1 October 2003. Reinforced checks will apply on exit from the EU and at the place of unloading in third countries and existing penalties will be reinforced. In addition, a new penalty, amounting to the total loss of refund for all animals indicated in an export declaration may be imposed, if a given percentage or number of the animals has died, given birth or aborted during transport. Export refunds for live cattle were considerably reduced, following new rules that came into force on 3 February (see Europe of 4 February 2003.
With the new Commission Regulation, export refunds for live bovines will be subject to the following reinforced checks and penalties:
Supervisory agencies responsible for carrying out checks in third countries will be approved under stricter standards; Checks at the place of the first unloading in the third country of final destination become compulsory for every consignment; A minimum check list has been established for controls on leaving the EU and on arriving in third countries; A new case for non-payment of the export refund has been established (for animals that give birth during transport); A new penalty has been introduced, with total loss of the refund if a set percentage or number of animals is excluded from the refund payment. (If over 5% of the animals or 10 animals which amount to 2% of the consignment die, give birth or abort during transport, or do not meet inspection requirements, then no export refund will be paid for the entire consignment. The Commission explains that the new penalty supplements penalties already in place for animals that die or do not meet inspection requirements. Every year, Member States will now provide the Commission with information about the application of this Regulation.
Commenting on the new Regulation, Commissioner Franz Fischler said: "The new rules and the recent reduction in export refunds represent a very substantial improvement in the welfare requirements for the export of live bovines." He said the new strategy had been unveiled when the guidelines for the mid-term review of the CAP had been adopted (in July 2001).