Document type: press release issued by the OABA
Author: OABA
Preview: Announcement from the OABA (Œuvre d'Assistance aux Bêtes d'Abattoirs) that it is taking legal action against the French Ministries of Agriculture and the Interior and against 79 Prefects for their failure to fufil their duties of transparency and the collection of data on the slaughter without stunning [1] of animals in France.
Legal framework not respected
Article R214-70 of the French Rural Code requires abattoirs with permitted derogations relating to stunning requirements to file records of their adherence to strict procedures, including in particular the registration of customer orders where the exemption is called for. In order to verify that the orders and slaughter quantities match, records must specify:
- the number of animals slaughtered (by head, weight or piece),
- order and slaughter dates,
- descriptions of the animals (kosher or halal rites followed, slaughter conditions).
However, despite these regulatory requirements, the Ministries and Prefectures in question refuse to release the records and inspection reports of authorized establishments, despite several requests from the OABA and two opinions in favor of their release from the Commission d'Accès aux Documents Administratifs (CADA).
Disappearance of core data
In 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture reported that 15% of cattle and 27% of sheep were slaughtered without stunning in France[2]. Since then, no consolidated data have been published, which the Ministry attributes to a change of IT system in 2015 and the absence of full data collection. However, a DGAL memo[3] states that these records are mandatory. Without them, no verification of the compliance of abattoirs with the current regulations can be carried out, and citizens who are concerned over animal welfare are deprived of information of public interest.
Appeal to re-establish transparency
Faced with this refusal to be transparent, the OABA is taking legal action to:
- obtain recognition of the State's responsibility for the failure to collect this data;
- demand that the systematic collection of this data be resumed, in accordance with the regulations;
- obtain the imposition of penalties for the lack of effective control over a controversial slaughtering practice that raises major ethical, health and societal issues. (...)
[1] Stun-free slaughter involves the killing of animals without anaesthesia, i.e. while fully consciousness. This derogation applies in the production of halal and kosher meat.
[2] https://www.senat.fr/questions/base/2021/qSEQ21071762S.html)
[3] Service note DGAl/SDSPA/SDSSA/N2012-8056 modified -https://info.agriculture.gouv.fr/boagri/instruction-N2012-8250
[4] 92% of the French population would like to see an improvement in slaughter conditions in France, with tighter controls - Special Eurobarometer 533 - March 2023
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