The Council approved Tonio Borg as the new EU Commissioner for Health and Consumers on 28 November after Members of the European Parliament confirmed his nomination at the last plenary session in Strasbourg.

Following the more supportive impression Mr Borg has given on animal welfare issues than his predecessor, Eurogroup for Animals hopes that he will stick to his commitments and act quickly to ensure that all outstanding legislation pays full regard to the welfare requirements of animals.

It includes bringing forward a strong proposal for a new European Animal Health Law which considers animal welfare in the first quarter of 2013, a clear proposal to ban the cloning of animals used for food supply by June 2013, and maintaining the full ban on the marketing of cosmetics containing ingredients tested on animals to come into force in March 2013.

On 14 November, the European Commission adopted an Implementing Decision establishing a common format for the submission of the statistical information on animal use as required by Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

This implementing decision gives clear instructions to Member States on how they must report to the Commission and the public the number of animals used in their country.
Eurogroup participated in the working group which prepared the statistical report format and expects an overall improvement on the existing data collected - especially if the reporting of actual severity experienced is assessed effectively and reported honestly.

The Commission is implementing decision can be found here

Earlier this month, the European Commission hosted a stakeholder meeting on CITES’ (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) 16th Conference of the Parties (CoP16) proposals in preparation of developing an EU common position. The 16th Conference of Parties will take place 3-14 March 2013 in Thailand. While the EU is not a party to CITES, Member States vote according to a common position at this important meeting on wildlife trade.

Eurogroup, and several of its members were amongst the stakeholders present to suggest in support of a host of proposals by the USA and Asian range countries to protect numerous species, including several shark species and the polar bear, and those heavily impacted by the pet trade.

The European Parliament’s Environment Committee is also preparing a resolution on the proposals which will be presented at the CITES CoP16.

Finally, the European Parliament’s Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals of 22 November was also dedicated to CITES CoP16 with presentations on polar bears, sharks, elephants, manta rays and implementing decisions. At this well attended session, several MEPs highlighted the importance of decisions taken on the implementation of CITES related to enforcement, wildlife crime, rhino and elephant poaching and hunting trophies.

To see the European Parliament’s resolution draft, click here

The Intergroup agenda and presentations can be found here

Eurogroup is pleased to report that the English version of the highly regarded Spanish guide for applying the EU Zoo Directive is now available. The original Spanish guide was developed in 2006 (second edition in 2010) in collaboration with our member organization, ANDA, and Eurogroup.

The useful guide covers important aspects of implementing and enforcing the Zoo Directive including: inspection, legislation, animal welfare, conservation, and record keeping.
It is intended to all governments and zoo communities in EU member states to facilitate the proper implementation of the EU Zoo Directive, thereby improving the welfare of animals being kept in zoos throughout Europe.

To see the guide, click here

Eurogroup for Animals attended the Third OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) Global Conference on Animal Welfare “Implementing the OIE standards - addressing regional expectations” which took place in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) on 6-8 November 2012.

Introducing the event, the OIE Director General, Dr. Bernard Vallat, stated that “The world needs to improve the relations between humans and animals”. Speakers included the Head of the European Commission animal welfare Unit, Dr. Andrea Gavinelli, who reminded that 95% of domestic animals are farmed. Other participants insisted on the importance of the OIE guidelines on animal welfare in developing bilateral trade relations (e.g. UE-Chile, UE-Canada, Australia).

Prof. David Fraser (OIE Animal Welfare Group, Canada) shared his experience on the evolution of teaching in veterinary schools: in the past the topics taught were animal husbandry, veterinary sciences, animal behaviour and stress physiology. Today, we do refer to animal welfare. Finally, many participants agreed on the potential of using animal welfare to improve animal management.

In parallel sessions, experts coming from all around the world were mobilised on the need to make progress in implementing OIE standards. The following topics were covered: “putting the standards to work/needs and tools”, including the role of regional animal welfare strategies; “the involvement of stakeholders, decision makers and donors”; “strategies and tools to strengthen good veterinary governance”, including the role of OIE Animal Welfare focal points; and “the role of veterinary services and Islamic Religious Authorities in improving Animal Welfare at slaughter”.

Recommendations were adopted at the end of the conference, urging a better implementation of OIE Standards that address regional expectations. The recommendations can be found here

An important decision referring to Council Regulation EC 1/2005 on the protection of animals during transport has recently been taken by the Bavarian administrative court in Germany, making it an obligation to respect EU animal welfare rules during long distance transport until the final destination. If applied it would drastically improve the conditions of transport of animals exported to Turkey and other third countries.

However the transporter appealed against the decision and the higher administrative court will possibly ask the European court of Justice for interpretation.

To see the court decision click here (German version only)

The European Commission organised a hearing in Brussels on 19 and 20 November to discuss the opportunities for a better integrated agenda of the EU policies and initiatives influencing the food production and consumption patterns.

The hearing was one of the processes used by the Commission to produce a Sustainable Food Communication to be published by the end of 2013.

Eurogroup for Animals is keen to promote specific aspects of animal agriculture that improve animal welfare, reduce wasteful practices and foster sustainability of the food supply chain.

In particular Eurogroup believes that EU Green Public Procurement criteria for food and catering which are under review should be used to integrate more sustainability criteria including animal welfare to demonstrate the Commissions vision for sustainable food.

This event comes in conjunction with a conference on the European Innovation Partnership on agricultural productivity and sustainability held on 19 November, also organised by the European Commission. The main objective of the conference was to brainstorm on the main challenges to be addressed by this new initiative of the Commission aiming at improving the sustainability of agriculture.

For more information click here and here

Eurogroup applauds the fact that on 22 November MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Commission’s proposal to close the loopholes in the EU ban on shark finning. Although the cruel and unsustainable practice of removing shark fins was banned in the European Union in 2003, loopholes existed that drastically undermined its effectiveness by allowing special permits to fin sharks on board vessels.

Under these new rules, all sharks caught by EU vessels anywhere in the world will be landed with their fins still naturally attached.

The Council, which adopted a general approach in favour of the Commission’s proposal in March, must still formally approve the legislative proposal as amended by the Parliament.

To see the text adopted click here

On 23 November, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment of Spain and the Government of Galicia together with the European Commission organised a high-level Conference in La Coruna, Spain on “European aquaculture: the path for growth”.

Presentations and discussions sought to exchange views on topics to include in the future Strategic Guidelines for the promotion of European aquaculture.

Currently fish welfare is absent from the guidelines. Growing scientific evidence points to the capacity of fish to feel pain which creates serious welfare concerns regarding the generally poor conditions of fish farming.

These Guidelines have been announced in the framework of the reform of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy and have the objective to identify common priorities and support EU Member States in developing multiannual aquaculture plans.

The European Court of Auditors published a new report on the implementation of EU hygiene legislation in slaughterhouses in countries that joined the EU since 2004.

These countries had to bring their slaughterhouses up to the EU’s hygiene standards and could receive EU funds to do so.
The report, mainly based on audits made by the European Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), examines the use made of those funds and whether there were adequate systems to implement the hygiene standards.

While the Court of Auditors concludes that overall, the design of systems was adequate, the report lists several recommendations to the European Commission and Member States to make sure that the weaknesses found, some of which are linked with official veterinary controls (Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Romania) are addressed in a near future.

To read the report, click here

The European Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) published the outcome of an audit carried out in Argentina to evaluate the operation of controls over the production of bovine meat and meat of rabbits and hares for human consumption destined for export to the European Union, as well as certification procedures.

Auditors found that official controls were not always successful in detecting problems preventing establishments from exporting meat to the EU.

Also, while animal welfare at the time of slaughter of bovine animals was satisfactory in all the slaughterhouses visited, however, restraining was found inadequate in one establishment, resulting in poor stunning which had to be repeated on several animals.

To read the report, click here