Brussels, 09/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - On 15 January during the European Parliament's plenary session, the European Commission will be invited to answer an oral question by the EP agriculture committee on application of the 2005 regulation on animal transport. The regulation has been in force since January 2007 and MEPs wish to know how it has been implemented in the different member states.
The regulation makes it a requirement for relevant member state authorities to ensure compliance with the legislation and to carry out non-discriminatory inspections of animals, means of transport and accompanying documents. Inspections must be performed on an adequate proportion of the animals transported each year within each member state. Member states are also required to submit to the Commission by 30 June each year an annual report on the state of enforcement to be accompanied by an analysis of the major deficiencies detected and an action plan to address them.
Neil Parish (EPP-ED, UK), speaking on behalf of the EP agriculture committee, calls on the Commission to provide a list of member states that have submitted reports. More precisely, MEPs wish to know whether the Commission: - has already made a first analysis of these reports allowing it to formulate certain conclusions on gaps and difficulties, but also on main areas of progress observed in implementation of the legislation; - will prepare a report on the process for implementation of the regulation in member states, given that such an analysis will be essential in the context of the scheduled review of the regulation on animal transport. (L.C./transl.jl)