Document type: audit report published on the European Commission website
Authors: DG Health - European Commission
Preview: This report describes the outcome of an audit of the Netherlands, carried out remotely from 19 to 23 June 2023 and on-the-spot from 27 to 30 June 2023 as part of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety work programme. The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the official controls on the protection of unweaned calves (still on a milk diet) during long journeys. The audit concludes overall that the Netherlands has a satisfactory system of official controls, although it has some weaknesses concerning official controls after the unweaned calves have been unloaded at their destination. The Netherlands primarily serves as the destination for unweaned calves. Competent authorities have well-documented procedures for official controls on the welfare of all animal species and types, including unweaned calves, during most stages of transportation. However, these are not very relevant nor have great impact on the transport of unweaned calves arriving to the Netherlands. By contrast, the lack of documented procedures for animal welfare controls after unweaned calves have been unloaded at their destination is an issue, as this phase is crucial for safeguarding the welfare of these animals during transport. The competent authority has taken effective steps to ensure that transport vehicles are equipped with drinkers adapted specifically for unweaned calves. In 2021 and 2022, the official control campaign targeting the transport of unweaned calves, detected non-compliances - mainly related to watering devices - in nearly half of the transports inspected, mostly involving transporters authorised by other Member States. These control measures have spurred the adoption of rubber teats for vehicles transporting these animals as a standard across the European Union. Transporters are failing to leave completed journey logs at the destination. This hinders the ability to verify, e.g. whether the transporter has planned the journey adequately (resting and travel times), adhered to stocking densities, tracked the number of unfit or deceased animals during the journey, and more. This is particularly relevant since Member States of departure no longer need to check 100% of journey plans before a journey starts. Non-compliance cases involving other Member States have only been notified directly to the National Contact Points for animal welfare during transport. The lack of response from some Member States has led the Dutch authorities to cease such notifications in certain instances. The competent authority is not yet using iRASFF to notify these non-compliances to the Liaison Bodies of other Member States, despite the effectiveness of this notification and response system. The report contains recommendations to the competent authorities aimed at addressing areas in which further improvements are required or to address the shortcomings identified.
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