Document type : article published in Eurogroup for Animals
Author: Eurogroup for Animals
Preview: In 2023, the European Commission announced it would update the Transport Regulation as part of its full revision to the animal welfare legislation. Soon after, it published its initial proposal for the update, which it invited European citizens to feed back on through a public consultation. The response level was very high. The public consultation, which was open for a period of over four months (between 8 December 2023 and 12 April 2024) gathered over 5,000 contributions for analysis. Within this number, a lot of the key input came from Spain, Germany, France and Italy, highlighting significant public interest for this topic in these Member States. The results showed citizens overwhelmingly support stricter regulations to protect animal welfare in this industry, including by:
- Banning certain types of transport and exports. Including banning long-distance and sea transport, and the export of live animals to third countries;
- Improving transport conditions. Calling for adequate space, ventilation, food and water, as well as for reduced transport times;
- Protecting vulnerable animals. Calling to ban the transport of unweaned and vulnerable animals, along with enforcing strict temperature controls;
- Supporting stricter weather protection. Incorporating recommendations for stricter measures to safeguard animals from extreme weather;
- Condemning harmful methods. Opposing the use of electric prods;
- Addressing transition periods. Issues were raised about the length of transition periods to implement new welfare rules;
- Helping poultry and rabbits. With suggestions to further limit transport times for these animals, based on their specific needs and natures;
- Possibly transitioning to a different type of trade entirely. There is widespread support for shifting to the transport of meat and carcasses instead of live animals, which is viewed as a more humane alternative that could significantly reduce suffering.
Stakeholders from various fields, including agriculture, public authorities, and NGOs, also provided feedback on different areas of the proposal, such as its current scope and what it says about journey times and temperature controls. These results were mixed, with some differences of opinion arising between the groups. For instance, industry voices and farmers raised concerns about limiting journey times during transport, whereas NGOs posited that journey times should be reduced significantly, for the wellbeing of the animals subjected to them.
The transport proposal needs some changes to truly work for animal welfare
As the responses to the public consultation show, the current transport proposal should be further revised. Our white paper details several measures that can be used by policy-makers to draft the strongest policies possible in this area: addressing both the needs of the animals in this sector, as well as the concerns of European citizens who have voiced support for protecting their welfare.
Link to the summary results of the public consultation
