Document type: Audit report DG(SANTE)/2021-7242 of the European Commission
Author: DG SANTE
Preview: This report describes the outcome of an audit of Austria, carried out remotely from 26 to 30 April 2021 as part of Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety work programme.
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of official controls to ensure the protection of the welfare of laying hens at all the stages of production.
The report concludes that the system for official controls on animal welfare of laying hens has adequate and suitable arrangements in place, in particular:
- high level of staff competence;
- appropriate allocation of resources for the performance of the official controls (including high proportion of farms inspected);
- sufficient procedures and checklists, detailed, complete and consistent, among different Länder (with the exception of the risk-based prioritisation of official controls which varies in different areas);
- a legal framework more stringent than the European Union requirements (e.g. cage ban for all the stages of production);
- different institutions providing additional guarantees for ensuring animal welfare (e.g. Ombudsperson is an official role advocating the rights of animals to well-being and has an active role in law enforcement in related cases).
As regards points that the system may improve, those refer mainly to:
- the lack of control verification procedures and evaluation of the effectiveness of the official controls at the farms;
- the written records of official controls at the farms do not include the documentation of the use of the checklist for animal welfare of laying hens but only the cross compliance checks.
These two points present an opportunity for the competent authorities to demonstrate the effectiveness, appropriateness and consistency of the official controls in the laying hens sector.
The report contains recommendations to the competent authorities aimed at addressing areas in which further improvements are required or to address the shortcomings identified.
