Document type Answer to question E-000856/23 from the European Commission
Authors: question: Annika Bruna (ID), Elżbieta Kruk (ECR), Gianantonio Da Re (ID), France Jamet (ID), Eric Minardi (ID). Response: Ms. Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission
Question in French: The opinion published on 21 February 2023 by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on laying hens and broilers is to be welcomed in the interests of consumer protection and livestock welfare.
The EFSA recommends avoiding the practice of mutilation, feed restriction and the use of cages. It also gives advice on how to improve the comfort of animals in terms of allocated space, density, lighting, dust, noise and litter.
These recommendations also provide the Commission with a scientific basis to support the ongoing revision of EU animal welfare legislation.
At the same time, however, the Commission must also take care not to encourage unfair competition at the expense of our own livestock farmers.
In view of this:
1. Will it take steps to ban imports into the EU of caged poultry reared according to standards of comfort and wellbeing that fail to match those of the EU?
2. Will this ban be applied, where appropriate, to countries with which the EU has signed free trade agreements or to which it opened its market, including Ukraine?
Answer in French: As announced in the communication from the Commission on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) ‘End the Cage Age’[1] adopted in 2021, the Commission is preparing legislative proposals for the welfare of kept animals, which will include provisions to phase out and finally prohibit the use of cages for all the animal species and categories referred to in the ECI (pigs, laying hens, calves, rabbits, broiler and layer breeders, ducks, geese, and quail).
The Commission is considering whether equivalent standards to a cage ban could be required for imported products as well. The currently ongoing impact assessment will include this aspect as well. Pending its finalisation, no decision has been taken yet on how the legislative proposal, planned for the second half of 2023, will address imported products.
