Document type: audit report DG(SANTE) 2023-7787 from the European Commission
Author: DG SANTE, European Commission
Preview: This report describes the outcome of an audit of Greece, carried out remotely from 20 to 24 February as part of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety work programme.The objective of the audit was to evaluate measures taken to ensure the respect of requirements in relation to animal welfare rules on transport and slaughter, in particular those related to the European Court of Justice judgment of 10 September 2009 (in case C-416/07). In this judgment, the Court declared that Greece had failed to take the measures necessary:- to ensure that the competent authorities carry out obligatory checks of route plans;- to provide for facilities in or in the immediate vicinity of ferry ports to enable animals to rest after unloading;- to ensure that the inspections of the means of transport and the animals are actually carried out;- to ensure that the rules on the stunning of animals at the time of slaughter are complied with, and- to ensure that inspections and controls in slaughterhouses are carried out in an appropriate manner.There are improvements since that judgement of 2009:- one (instead of four) facility, to enable animals to rest, still missing in ferry ports; and- presence of less severe non-compliances with journey plans and journey records.The Regional Units do not meet the prescribed frequencies for official controls on animal welfare at slaughter, and on animals, means of transport and journey logs during transport. Furthermore, they still do not always detect and address:- some major, and long-standing, non-compliances with animal welfare at slaughterrequirements;- some non-compliances with journey logs for animal transport requirements.
These deficiencies significantly reduce the reliability of official controls to verify food business operator's compliance with welfare requirements at slaughter and during transport. The central level inspections and audits detect the major non-compliances with animal welfare at slaughter. However, the system in place is not adequately targeting Regional Unit performance to ensure the effectiveness, appropriateness, quality and consistency of their controls on animal welfare at slaughter Currently, Regional Units do not detect all non-compliances or systematically apply enforcement measures to ensure compliance with all animal welfare requirements for slaughter and transport. As a result, slaughterhouse operators are not always sparing animals from avoidable pain, distress or suffering, and transporters are not providing sufficient assurances that animals are spared undue suffering during transport. The measures implemented by the competent authorities have not yet achieved full compliance with the five points in the 2009 judgement of the European Court of Justice. The report makes eight recommendations to the competent authorities to address the shortcomings noted.
