91997E2243

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2243/97 by Concepció Ferrer (PPE) to the Council (18 July 1997)

Subject: Transport of animals throughout the EU

In May 1997 the Council of Agriculture Ministers reached an agreement on the Community criteria governing the transport of animals throughout the European Union. The agreement laid down various rules which will come into force on 1 January 1999 to guarantee the welfare of such animals.

What is the Council's estimate of the effects which the application of these measures will have on the price of meat products?

Answer (10 November 1997)

At its meeting on 25 June 1997 the Council adopted Regulation (EC) No 1255/97 ((See OJ L 174, 2.7.1997, p. 1. )) concerning Community criteria for staging points and amending the route plan referred to in the Annex to Directive 91/628/EEC. This Regulation, which will apply as from 1 January 1999, lays down certain standards designed to guarantee the welfare of animals obliged to stay at staging points after a specific length of journey.

These provisions cover the establishment of health, hygiene and operating measures to apply to the building and operation of those staging points.

In adopting this Regulation, however, the Council decided to leave it to the Member States to choose the financial and technical means for attaining this objective.

As the nature and amount of the investment needed to put these new infrastructures in place is a matter for the individual Member States, the Council is not in a position to estimate the impact of introducing these measures on the cost of meat products.

The Council would point out that this Regulation, like other decisions taken over the last few years, comes within the context of a policy of animal welfare protection more and more demanded by European citizens and enshrined in a Protocol to the Treaty of Amsterdam.