COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS BY COMPASSION IN WORLD FARMING (CIWF) ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REGULATION

 

Approval and certification

 

CIWF welcomes that under the new Regulation, the three core elements of transport have to be approved and certified, i.e.

 

1.      the transport company has to be authorised;

 

2.      drivers and attendants transporting animals on journeys of over 65 km must undertake training, pass an examination and hold a certificate of competence;

 

3.      livestock vehicles for long journeys have to be inspected and hold a certificate of approval.

 

 

Training of drivers and other personnel handling animals during transport and at assembly centres, including livestock markets

 

CIWF welcomes the requirement in the Regulation for all drivers and attendants transporting animals more than 65 km to undertake formal training, pass an examination and hold a certificate of competence.  We welcome the fact that the examination must be approved by the Department of Agriculture, and that the Department must ensure that examiners are independent.  We stress that Annex IV provides considerable detail with regard to the required content of these training courses, and we ask the Department to ensure that courses deal thoroughly with all of these components.  

 

CIWF also welcomes the requirement for other personnel who handle animals to receive training as follows:

 

• personnel of transporters who handle animals making journeys of over 65 km must undertake training on the relevant provisions of Annexes I and II (see Article 6(4));

 

• personnel of assembly centres, including livestock markets, must undertake training on the relevant technical rules set out in Annex I (see Article 9(2)(a)).

 

We are pleased that Article 17(1) requires training courses to be available for the purpose of training personnel of transporters and assembly centres.  We urge the Department to ensure that such training courses are established.

 

Most importantly, we ask the Department to encourage individuals and companies to recognise that training is a serious and important part of ensuring high animal welfare standards, and that formal training is essential even for people who have prior experience in animal handling and transport.

   

We note that there appears to be no exceptions to training in the form of “grandfather rights”, something which CIWF welcomes.

 

We stress that CIWF considers the training element in the Regulation to be vital.  We believe that a lot of the potential success of the Regulation depends on the training requirements in the Regulation being carried out thoroughly and effectively.

 

 

 

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Guide to good practice and compliance with the Regulation

 

Article 29 of the Regulation says that Member States are encouraged to develop a guide (or guides) to good practice, including compliance with the Regulation.  CIWF urges the Department to produce such a guide and to distribute this as widely as possible.  CIWF suggests that the Department asks the Farm Animal Welfare Advisory Council to assist in the production of this guide.

 

 

Authorisation of transporters

 

CIWF welcomes the detailed authorisation procedure for transport companies as laid down in Articles 10 and 11.  In particular, we welcome the requirement for transport companies to show that they have sufficient staff, equipment and, most importantly, operational procedures to be able to comply with the Regulation.  Also we welcome the requirement that companies must show that they have rectified any problems that resulted in earlier infringements.

 

 

Certification of vehicles for long journeys and the requirement for navigation systems

 

We welcome the requirement in the Regulation for vehicles undertaking long journeys to be inspected by the Department and to have a certificate of approval, as laid down in Article 18.

 

We suggest that, in addition to the requirements of the Regulation, it would be helpful for approved road vehicles to have a plate attached which provides the unique authorisation number with a prefix denoting Ireland (IE), and the Department of Agriculture contact number for use if infringements are observed.  Most people nowadays carry mobile phones and this would enable prompt and accurate reporting of problems and a speedy response from the Department.

 

CIWF welcomes the requirement that vehicles used for long journeys should be equipped with a  navigation system (by 2007 for new vehicles and by 2009 for all vehicles).  We urge the Department to ensure that all vehicles for long journeys comply with this requirement, and that Department officials are trained and equipped to check data received from such systems, as required under Article 16.

 

 

Inspections

 

We draw the Department’s attention to a useful report produced by the European Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office (FVO)* which says that: 

 

“Regarding animal welfare during transport, the series (of missions carried out by the FVO in Member States during 2003) has demonstrated that there has been progress in those countries where the competent authorities have provided guidance and further developed their administrative procedures:  by strengthening the requirements for the transport of particularly vulnerable animals;  by carrying out well planned and targeted roadside checks and by ensuring closer and more systematic checks of repeat offenders.”

 

[*Overview of a series of missions carried out in 2003 concerning animal welfare during transport and at the time of slaughter, European Commission, Food and Veterinary Office, 2004.]

 

 

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On the basis of the FVO conclusion, CIWF makes the following points relating to inspections of animals in transit by the Department:

 

• With regard to random or targeted inspections during long journeys by the Department, as laid down in Article 15, CIWF is of the view that these should not be limited to inspections at the point of departure or destination (which is where transporters would anticipate such inspections to occur).  Instead, inspections should also periodically be carried out during the journey at the roadside.

 

• It is very important for the Department to target repeat offenders to ensure that they are taking steps to rectify problems.

 

• It is crucial that the Department issues clear instructions to its inspectors so that they know exactly what they are looking for during inspections.  We urge the Department to do this and suggest that inspectors are provided with a checklist to aid comprehensive and consistent inspection procedures.

 

 

Checks at exit points for animals going to third countries

 

We draw your attention to the requirement for veterinary checks at exit points for animals being exported to third countries.  In light of the Irish export trade in cattle going to the Lebanon, we believe that it is very important that these exit checks are carried out thoroughly as laid down in Article 21.

 

 

Measures in the event of non-compliance

 

CIWF welcomes that Article 23 lays down specific actions to be taken by the Department to safeguard the welfare of animals in cases of non-compliance.

 

 

Penalties

 

With regard to penalties, we note that Article 25 of the Regulation states that penalties shall be laid down by the Department, and that these must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

 

Whilst not wanting to sound punitive, CIWF asks the Department to ensure that penalties are such that transporters cannot ignore them or treat them lightly. 

 

We draw your attention to the “dissuasive” requirement for penalties.  In cases of serious infringements, we urge the Department to penalise transporters by suspension or withdrawal of certificates authorising the transporting company/vehicle/driver (or attendant) as appropriate.  We believe that in serious cases this action is essential if a penalty is to be truly dissuasive.  

 

 

Communications with other competent authorities

 

We welcome Article 26, which says that where a competent authority finds an infringement then it must notify the competent authority (or authorities) in the country of authorisation and the country of departure.

 

CIWF believes that good co-operation between countries of departure and countries of transit and destination is essential to prevent the recurrence of problems in the future. 

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Specifically, we ask the Department to relate closely with the competent authorities in transit countries for Irish animals (e.g. France) and destination countries (e.g. Italy, Spain and the Netherlands), communicating to the competent authorities in these countries that feedback about

problems with Irish animals is expected and welcome.  The name and contact details of the relevant Irish Department of Agriculture official (to whom information should be addressed) should be provided.  

 

We note that the UK authorities periodically contact the competent authorities in transit or destination countries, asking them to check that consignments of animals from the UK did in fact stop at the points laid down in the route plan.  All Member States could do this.  We ask the Department to consider, on an occasional basis, asking other countries to check whether Irish animals have indeed been rested at the staging points identified in the route plan (journey log).  

 

 

Electric goads

 

CIWF is disappointed that the use of electric goads is permitted in the Regulation.  However, we welcome that their use is limited (as specified in the technical rules set out in Annex I, Chapter III, Section 1.9).  We ask the Department to ensure that the restrictions on the use of electric goads detailed in this Annex are strictly enforced. 

 

We also ask that all training courses include a detailed description of the limitations on the use of electric goads. 

 

Although not a requirement of the Regulation, we ask the Department to discourage the use of electric goads and to include this view in training courses.  

 

 

Annual reports

 

We note that Article 27 of the Regulation requires the Department to produce an annual report giving details of inspections carried out, deficiencies found and possible remedies.  CIWF asks that this annual report is made publicly available.

 

Mary-Anne Bartlett

Director

Compassion in World Farming - Ireland

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