World Animal Net
WAN
WAN's mission is to improve the status and welfare of animals worldwide by offering information, expertise and new opportunities to connect, collaborate, and campaign for change.
ID: 440123026177-79
Lobbying Activity
Response to Fitness Check of the EU legislation on animal welfare
29 Jul 2020
WAN is an international organisation which was founded 20 years ago to build expertise, information and best practice resources to support the development of animal welfare. We have affiliated organisations in more than 125 countries, including over 500 affiliates across the EU. We are pleased that there will be a fitness check evaluating the existing body of animal welfare law in the EU. Here we briefly outline several high level points which we hope will be useful in considering the process content, scope and purpose of this evaluation.
- As currently proposed in the roadmap there is a lack of clarity as to what animals constitute “farmed animals”. A variety of animals are bred and raised in the EU for commercial purposes, and these are broadly covered in a number of relevant directives and regulations (i.e. Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009, Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 and Council Directive 98/58/EC). Using a wide lens to include the production of animals for all commercial uses will provide a more informative assessment and ensure meaningful alignment with One Health and One Welfare approaches, the importance of which has been made ever more clear in the context of COVID-19 and the ways cross-species spillover events can contribute to disease spread, particularly when poor conditions for animal welfare exist.
- It is important to note that there are clear gaps in the existing acquis. As stated in the roadmap, currently, species-specific directives leave 52% of mammals and 20% of all birds without specific protections, because existing directives cover only laying hens, broilers, pigs and calves. This means that a host of other farmed animal species lack specific protections. As practices for production vary widely by species, clear legislation is needed to ensure that core animal welfare goals for each species are appropriately addressed. Identifying and addressing these gaps should be an essential component of this evaluation.
- When it comes to animal welfare, directives have limitations which can lead to inconsistencies in implementation. Regulations are better suited to enabling implementation and desired animal welfare outcomes across all Member States.
- As aquaculture is rapidly growing, we would like to highlight that the welfare of fish requires special attention in the assessment. Currently, 1/2005 fails to meet the level of the OIE standards for the transport of fish. As an organization that works closely with the OIE we are particularly disappointed by this, seeing as OIE standards for animal welfare are generally considered a baseline, and EU provisions are typically much stronger. Further, we note that Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 has failed to take into account new knowledge (i.e. a series of EFSA opinions published in 2009 and Commission report to Parliament and Council of 2018), and Council Directive 98/58/EC has little implementation relevance to fish.
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