Document type: Answer to question no 7524, published in the Journal Officiel de la République Française
Authors: question : M. Charles Fournier (Indre-et-Loire (1st district) - Écologiste et Social). Answer: Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.
Question: Mr. Charles Fournier questions the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty on the government's position on cage farming. In France, the percentage of hens raised in cages fell from 68% in 2016 to 24.9% in 2025, and should reach 10% by 2030, according to the egg industry. Despite encouraging results compared to the European average (39% of laying hens are still raised in cages in Europe), France has not met its commitments in this area. Emmanuel Macron, during the 2017 presidential campaign, pledged "to do away with the battery farming of laying hens in favor of alternative farming methods. By 2022, eggs from battery hens will be banned from sale to consumers". In addition, the European Commission pledged, following the End the Cage Age European citizens' initiative, to present a legislative proposal before the end of 2023, to ban cage farming throughout the EU. The French President has banned only the installation of new cages and the extension of existing ones through the 2018 "EGAlim" Law. The Commission, for its part, has simply failed to make any provisions and has in fact failed to meet its commitments. What is more, according to the AnimaFrance association, the observed drop in the proportion of hens raised in cages in France is mainly due to the marketing actions of distributors. In particular, the latter have encouraged the French egg industry to change its practices. For example, on April 1, 2013, the Monoprix supermarket chain undertook not to sell a single egg laid in a cage, which had a knock-on effect on other supply chains. These measures are seriously lacking in a society concerned over animal welfare, where 89% of French people are in favor of ending cage farming in the EU. It is essential to remind ourselves of living conditions in these cages: hens develop behavioral abnormalities (prolonged performance of compulsive movements, aggressiveness, even cannibalism towards their fellow hens), they never see the light of day, live surrounded by their own excrement and the corpses of their fellow hens, in a very restricted space where it is difficult to move around, with their feet lacerated by the wire flooring. Faced with this unacceptable situation, the Deputy alerts the Minister to the need to act at national level, without waiting for the European Commission's legislative proposals. Many European countries have taken steps to ban this type of farming in favor of alternative methods that are more respectful of animal welfare. This is the case in several Member States where legislation to ban the practice has already been passed, notably Luxembourg and Austria, along with Germany, where the ban will take effect from 2025. The conclusion is clear: binding legislation at EU level can only be achieved through initiatives at national level. With this in mind, he would like to know whether the government will quickly enact a ban on cage farming at national level, thereby positioning itself at the forefront of European countries in terms of animal welfare.
Answer: Improving animal welfare and combating animal abuse are government priorities. There is a strong and growing societal expectation on the part of consumers and citizens regarding animal welfare issues, and this expectation must be met. The improvement of animal welfare is a key factor for the future of the European livestock industry, and bringing an end to the use of cages in farming, through a Europe-wide campaign, must play its part in this. The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) to "End the Cage Age", which was submitted in September 2018 by CIWF, calls on the European Commission to propose legislation banning the use of: cages for laying hens, rabbits, pullets, broiler breeders, layer breeders, quail, ducks and geese; farrowing crates for sows, sow stalls, individual calf pens.
In its response to the ECI, the Commission undertook to present, by the end of 2023, a legislative proposal aimed at phasing out and eventually banning the use of cage systems for all animals mentioned in the initiative. Work on the revision of European legislation on farm animal welfare is continuing, but to date the draft document on livestock farming has not yet been published. Work is therefore focusing on transport, and the contents of the European Commission's proposal concerning an end to cages are not yet known. France supports the approach proposed by the European Commission to determine the procedures for the phasing out of cages, based on expert scientific opinions and an impact analysis. The approach adopted, which takes into account social, economic and environmental impact assessments, as well as changes in consumer needs and expectations, is highly appropriate. On March 10, 2023, the French government launched a preliminary consultation with stakeholders as part of the review announced by the European Commission of its legislation on animal welfare and protection, with the aim of identifying areas of common ground between the many actors involved in animal protection in France, and of showcasing the French experience and its specific characteristics to those working at European level. Several principles underpin the government's action. A first challenge is to prevent any distortion of competitiveness. To this end, we are focusing on two levers: providing support for European harmonization, and ensuring that animal welfare requirements applicable within the European Union are matched by equivalent rules for animals that are the source of imported products. Second, transition has a cost. This additional cost must be shared across all links in the livestock industry supply chain, including distributors and consumers. Last, the government seeks to provide sufficient visibility for operators, particularly the next generations, enabling them to plan ahead and invest.
At the same time, the government is supporting a number of research projects, some of which are designed to assist in ending the use of cages in farming. The reduction of cage farming is underway in many sectors, for example the CAREFUL project is supporting a project for the cage-free production of fattening palmipeds [for foie gras], and the numbers of cage-farmed hens have been steadily decreasing since 2018. It should be remembered that, as early as October 2019, the Comité National pour la Promotion de l'Oeuf (CNPO) announced that it was ahead of schedule on the commitment to achieve 50% of hens raised in alternative systems to intensive cage production. Laying-hen farms are constantly updating their systems and, according to projections on the website of the Comité national pour la promotion de l'œuf (CNPO), by 2024, less than 20% of laying hens would still be farmed in cages in France, i.e. more than three-quarters of hens would be farmed in non-caged systems. This compares to a European figure of just 58% in 2021, which has improved to an average of 39% by 2024. France is therefore ahead of its European partners, and well on the way to ending the use of cages. To this end, the French government is supporting a number of research projects, some of which aim to bring an end to the use of cages. Investment aid schemes such as the Competitiveness and Adaptation Plan under the second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the France Relance Plan offer support measures to livestock farmers planning to change their production methods from cages to free-range. In a more general way, investment aid is expected to provide support for farmers wishing to make the transition to cage-free farming, and the entirety of the work undertaken by the government is expected to help French farms to make the necessary transition to meet the public's expectations with regard to animal welfare and adaptation to climate change. The authorities do not carry out inspections of poultry housing at such a level that are specific to this matter, but they do so during animal protection and health inspections, since farmers of layers are required to declare the establishment of flocks of animals to the Departmental Directorates for the Protection of Populations (DDPP). In most Départements, animal protection inspectors in the poultry sector are aware of caged layer farms, which are declared under CERFA no. 13989-04, and are regularly inspected under the French health charter. Given that farmers are required to declare their use of cages, an annual documentary check could be carried out on all farm buildings containing caged hens, which could be cross-checked against the most recent declarations of the installation of cage-based housing, and appropriate action could be taken in response to the various situations identified in the process. A specific technical instruction on the monitoring of this ban will be published to strengthen these monitoring mechanisms, to specify the checks to be carried out, the actions to be taken and the data to be passed on, so that the monitoring of caged layer hen farms can be improved.
