| November 23, 2004,
as reported by just-food.com: The European Commission
is introducing new regulations for animal transport that
focus on animal welfare before, after and during the trips.
Part of a political agreement made by the European Council,
the European Commission applauded the regulation for increasing
accountability by identifying clearly who is responsible
for what throughout the animal transport process and introducing
new, more efficient enforcement tools such as checks via
a satellite navigation system.
Animal handlers will also have to abide by stricter
rules for journeys of more than eight hours, including
substantial upgrading in vehicles standards and treatment
of the animals before and after a journey, for example
at slaughterhouses or at harbors. The regulation recognizes
that most of the stress on the animals occurs around
loading and unloading and has responded accordingly.
Currently about 10% of animal transport in Europe consists
of long distance transport.
“These new animal transport rules will significantly
improve animal welfare. My ambition would have been
to reduce traveling times and stocking densities further,
but member states remain deeply split on this,”
said Markos Kyprianou, Commissioner for Health and Consumer
Protection.
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