§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the EC law which prevents the banning of the export of calves for rearing in veal crates.
§ Mr. GaleTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish the legal opinion that he has 845W received relating to the export of veal calves and other live animals for slaughter; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mrs. BrowningMy right hon. Friend the Minister has consulted further on the legality under Community law of measures banning the export of calves, or imposing selective restrictions intended to ensure that they are reared in other member states under conditions corresponding to those applied here by virtue of the Welfare of Livestock Regulations 1994 (SI 1994/2126).
Consideration has been given to the best case that could be made in favour of such measures. However, the conclusion that emerges from the legal advice available to him is that such measures cannot be justified, for the following reasons:
there is already in existence a directive on welfare standards for calves which forms part of the Community legislation governing trade in calves and it is advised that the terms of that directive would preclude member states from introducing export restrictions;Article 36 of the treaty can in some circumstances justify export restrictions, on the grounds of the protection of health and life of animals, which includes animal welfare. That article, however, is only available to member states where there is no Community legislation governing the particular area. But that is not the case here, given the directive on welfare standards; also it is very probable that measures banning or restricting the export of calves would constitute an unacceptable interference with the operation of the common agricultural policy, as it affects the market for beef and veal;a total ban on all calf exports could not in any event be justified under article 36, because it would be deemed to be disproportionate;in addition to the grave difficulties of justifying them legally, and the consequent high risk of their being struck down in court, selective restrictions would present severe practical problems of enforcement.
§ Mr. MorleyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, pursuant to his answer of 23 January,Official Report, column 71, what was the age of the cattle exported to (a) France, (b) the Netherlands, (c) Eire and (d) Northern Ireland for immediate slaughter.
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 30 January 1995]: I cannot add to my earlier replies as the information is not available. Exports to the other member states were restricted under EC rules to calves under six months of age. Cattle, including calves, to destinations in Northern Ireland would not have been subject to an age restriction.
§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what are the policy objectives of Her Majesty's Government for 1995 on the subject of transportation of live animals.
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 26 January 1995]: We shall continue to press for the further detailed Community measures—for example on feeding, watering and rest and on limits on journeys to slaughter—that we consider to be necessary to ensure effective Community-wide safeguards for the welfare of livestock in transit. In the meantime, we shall maintain our existing strict national measures which protect the welfare of livestock, including exported livestock, during transit and which we have recently tightened up. We shall supplement these measures with a code of practice, and will continue to scrutinise all new proposals to export livestock to ensure that only those which meet welfare requirements are allowed to proceed. On the related issue of veal crates on the continent, we shall press, in the Council of Ministers' review of the directive which permits the veal crate, for changes which bring an end 846W to this system of production. It is encouraging that the Commission has agreed to my right hon. Friend's request to facilitate this review by bringing forward to this year its review report scheduled for 1997.