Health & Consumer Protection Directorate General

1. Health & Consumer Protection Directorate General What Can The Community Action Plan achieve for European Consumers Andrea Gavinelli Unit D2 Animal Welfare and Feed

2. The story so far • First EU AW legislation adopted in 1974 • EC Treaty Protocol enters into force 1999: pay ‘‘full regard’’ to the welfare of animals as ‘‘sentient beings’’ • White Paper on Food Safety: full integration of AW into EU food chain policy, ‘‘farm to fork approach’’ • CAP reforms: ‘‘cross compliance’’ and ‘‘meeting standards’’ principles • The Community Action Plan on the protection and welfare of animals 2006-2010

3. The AW Action Plan • Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council that proposes five main areas of action • Outlines a range of actions for the period 2006-2010 covering not only farm animals, also laboratory and wild animals

4. If you improve animal welfare…… • 80% believed it would certainly result in better animal health • 74% believed products would certainly be more ethically acceptable • 58% believed would certainly result in better food quality • 57% believed would certainly result in better food safety EU Web consultation – Winter 2005

5. “Consumer concerns about animal welfare and the impact on food choice” FAIR Project 2001 Consumers: • Use AW as an indicator of other product attributes, such as food safety, quality and healthiness • Equate good AW standards with good food standards • Would like to make more informed choices • Signs of higher vegetarianism in the young, mainly for ethical reasons

6. Introducing standardised AW indicators • Development, management, research of welfare indicators • Exchange of information and formation of the « auditors » • Stakeholder interaction, best practices • A European Centre for the protection and welfare of animals.

7. An informed keeper and general public: the best advocates for AW Establishment of a specific information platform on animal welfare Dialogue and exchange of experiences between stakeholders

8. Animal welfare labelling:Enable consumers to make an informed choice and producers to benefit from market opportunities Possible ways forward: • Development of standardised animal welfare indicators • Classification and harmonised certification of animal welfare standards applied • Systematic exploration of options for labelling

9. CAP Measures with a particular potential to address animal welfare issues • Investments in agricultural holdings • Agri-environment/animal welfare • Processing and marketing of agricultural products • Training • “Meeting standards” chapter • “Food quality” chapter • Setting-up of farm advisory systems

10. CAP reform – RD - Food quality Support for • Farmers’ participation in FQS • Activities to inform consumers, • Promotion of products produced under quality schemes. • Public support up to 70% of eligible project costs.

11. E U R O B A R O M E T E R E U R O B A R O M E T E R Thinking about animal welfare when purchasing "

12. Country Results Sweden 94% Cyprus 91% Greece 85% 81% The Netherlands Austria 79% Finland 79% Luxembourg 78% Denmark 77% Belgium 76% France 76% Map Legend United Kingdom 76% 91% - 100% Italy 75% 81% - 90% EU25 74% 71% - 80% 61% - 70% Spain 71% 0% - 60% Ireland 71% Germany 70% Czech Republic E U R O B A R O M E T E R E U R O B A R O M E T E R Portugal 62% Results Map: EU25 Do you believe that buying animal welfare friendly products could have a positive impact on the welfare/protection of farm animals? Answers:Total "Yes" Malta 79% 74% Poland Slovakia 68% 66% Slovenia 66% Latvia 65% Hungary 60% Estonia 57% 56% Lithuania

13. E U R O B A R O M E T E R E U R O B A R O M E T E R Are consumers ready to pay more for a better welfare for laying hens? What additional price premium would you be willing to pay for hen’s eggs sourced from an animal welfare friendly production system? Answers:Total "Additional"

14. Working towards international consensus • WTO • Multilateral animal welfare standards – OIE, Council of Europe • Multilateral and bilateral agreements • Labelling of animal products • Supporting further research on the links between animal health and animal welfare

15. Some economic aspectsfrom the “broilers” side… • Irrespective of new welfare measures incomes in the Dutch poultry sector negative over the last 3 years • New Community rules would add 2.5-8 cents to the cost of producing a chicken • But in 2002 average UK net margin per bird only 3 p !! • Cost of producing 1kg of chicken meat: 0.72€ in Brazil, 1.35€ in UK !! • How to adapt our production and who will bear the costs: farmers, processors, retailers, consumers… governments ?

16. Creating Business Opportunitythrough Improved Animal Welfare (International Finance Corporation client resources *) The note demonstrates how good principles of animal welfare in investments in livestock operations in emerging markets could represent a way to improve quality and productivity. * http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/agribusiness.nsf/Content/LivestockProcessing

17. Thanks for your attention.