The Welfare of pigs
Enforcement of the pig directive
Intergroup on the welfare and conservation of animals
Meeting 14 March 2013
Denis Simonin
DG Health and Consumers
Unit G3 Animal Welfare
The views expressed here are purely those of the writer and may not in any circumstances be regarded as stating
an official position of the European Commission
Health and
Consumers
EU Animal Welfare Strategy 20122015
The EU Animal Welfare Strategy identified lack of
enforcement as one of the main issues
Measures have been identified which could contribute to
improve compliance across EU is:
 Actions to be taken by Member States to correct
situations of non-compliance
 Infringement procedures launched by Commission
 To develop guidelines for more specific interpretation
of EU legislation
 Dissemination of knowledge
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Directive 2008/120 laying down
minimum standards for the protection of
pigs
Requirements set to ensure the welfare of pigs
include:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Housing – floors, temperature, light and sound
Behavioural needs
Feed and water
Procedures
Competence of handlers
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Key enforcement issues and actions
1. Group housing of sows
2. Tail docking and manipulable materials
3. Flooring
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Group housing of sows
•
Article 3(4): Member States shall ensure that sows and
gilts are kept in groups during a period starting from 4
weeks after the service to 1 week before the expected
time of farrowing.
•
Since 1 January 2013, group housing of sows is
compulsory in all EU pig holdings with 10 sows or more
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Group housing of sows
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Group housing of sows
Essential to enforce EU legislation:
• Avoid unfair competition
• Credibility of the EU in applying welfare legislation
• No practical means to differentiate between animals and
products obtained from compliant or non-compliant farms.
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Group housing of sows
 Member States are primarily responsible for the
implementation
 In line with Regulation 882/2004 on official controls, they
must:
 Ask non-compliant producers to take corrective actions (Art 54)
 Sanction, where necessary, non–compliant producers (Art 55)
 Commission shall ensure that Member States apply the EU
welfare legislation
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Group housing of sows
Based on data provided by the Member States
• 11 fully comply (AT, BG, CZ, EE, LT, LU, LV, RO, SK, SE,
UK)
• 9 at least 90% holdings compliant
• 3 at least 80% holdings compliant
• 2 at least 70% holdings compliant
• 2 at least 60% holdings compliant
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Group housing of sows
 Data regularly collected since summer 2011
 Issue extensively discussed in many forums with Member
States and stakeholders 2011-2012
 Member States' transposition checked again 2012
 Request national action plans for group housing 2012
 EU pilot sent to 23 Member States in September 2012
 Infringement procedures were launched against 9
Member States (LFN on 21/2/2013) + 7 cases still
open (pre-infringement)
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Tail docking
Annex I (8)
Certain procedures are permitted. However, neither taildocking nor reduction of corner teeth must be carried out
routinely.
Before carrying out these procedures, other measures shall
be taken to prevent tail-biting and other vices, taking into
account environment and stocking densities.
Inadequate environmental conditions or management systems
must be changed.
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Manipulable material
Annex I (4)
Pigs must have access to a sufficient quantity of material to
enable proper investigation and manipulation activities, such as
straw, hay, wood, sawdust, mushroom compost, peat or a mixture of
such, which does not compromise the health of the animals.
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Tail docking
 Which provisions are not respected?
 Good situation in very few Member States
but done routinely in many others without
efforts for alternatives
 EU legislation may need further
explanation through guidelines
 "Inadequate environmental conditions"
 "Other measures shall be taken"
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Tail docking
First extended working group on 8 March 2013
Presentations given by Member States, industry,
research and NGO's
The Commission will develop guidelines for the requirements
of Directive 2008/120
The information collected and experiences gathered
will be used in this work.
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Flooring
Article 3
Sets specific requirements for space allowance according to pig
size/weight
Flooring surface must meet certain requirements (solid; smooth
but not slippery)
For concrete slatted floors maximum openings and minimum
slat width are defined.
Annex I
Pigs are to have access to a lying area physically and thermally
comfortable and all animals are to be able to lie at the same
time
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Flooring
Many questions from the Member States in 2011-2012 related
to the interpretation of these requirements
The Commission distributed its position at the Standing
Committee of the Food Chain and Animal Health
Presentations were given in a few instances allowing for
questions from the Member States.
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Conclusion
 Priority to group housing of sows
 Intense work on tail docking + manipulable
materials
 Both topics also addressed in EUWelNet project
 Interpretations for technical issues e.g. flooring
 EU guidelines on pig directive for 2013-2014
 Series of studies on alternatives to castration
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Thank you for your attention
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