Document type : Written answer from the European Commission
Authors: Question: Gianantonio Da Re (ID). Answer: Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission
Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union recognizes animals as sentient beings and stipulates that in the development and implementation of certain EU policies, due regard shall be paid to animal welfare requirements. In 2012, the Commission adopted the EU Strategy on the Protection and Welfare of Animals (2012-2015), while Regulation (EC) No. 1099/2009 governs, among other things, the protection of animals at the time of killing. Although this regulation only provides for the killing of an animal after it has been stunned, it also allows for religious slaughter, such as halal slaughter, whereby "animals may be killed without prior stunning, provided that the slaughter takes place in a slaughterhouse".
Can the Commission therefore answer the following questions?
- Does it not think that the Islamic halal slaughter method, according to which the animal must remain conscious while its trachea and arteries are cut until it dies after fully bleeding to death, is fundamentally incompatible with current European animal welfare standards, which are among the highest in the world?
- What measures has it taken, and will it take, to verify the labelling of halal meat in order to protect and safeguard consumers?
The EU legislation allows slaughter without stunning in cases of slaughter methods prescribed by religious rites. The legislator provided this possibility in order to strike a balance between the protection of animal welfare and the freedom to manifest religion as enshrined in Article 10 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The Member States’ competent authorities remain primarily responsible for the implementation of the EU legislation and may adopt stricter national rules for more extensive protection of animals at the time of killing, in accordance with the EU legislation. A ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union confirmed that Member States have a certain margin of discretion in implementing the provisions related to slaughter without stunning, including labelling and other control measures.
2. Voluntary food information has to comply with Article 36 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, which provides that such information shall not mislead the consumer, not be ambiguous or confusing for the consumer and, where appropriate, be based on the relevant scientific data.
