EC hints at review of animal transport laws

IT SEEMS likely that the European Commission still wants to look at animal transport, with John Dalli, the commissioner for health and consumer policy confirming, he wanted the "law updated in line with the latest scientific findings".

This view came in response to a letter from Scottish MEP Struan Stevenson asking the commissioner to look at better enforcement of existing regulations rather than opening up the legislation once again.

Stevenson said he was worried about the impact this response could have on the Scottish livestock industry. He stated there was deep concern and frustration from farmers, hauliers and vets on the issue.

"While Scotland has vigorously implemented the regulations and Scottish hauliers have invested heavily in new, state-of-the-art trucks and floats, other European Union member states have not. Many are flagrantly breaching the rules, resulting in great cruelty and disastrous standards of animal welfare," he alleged.

He welcomed Dalli's acceptance of his invite to Scotland as this would demonstrate how it adhered to the regulations.

In his letter, Dalli said he wanted to see uniform implementation of legislation and part of this would explore the effect of navigation systems to ensure the proper enforcement of permitted travelling times.

Stevenson said this was a reference to recent commission investigations in Spain and Italy, which uncovered widespread falsification of records.