Live Transport and Enforcement:

An Animal Welfare NGO perspective

Peter Stevenson

Compassion In World Farming

Good framework for enforcement of Transport Regulation provided by EU law

• Regulation 1/2005 on protection of animals during transport

• Regulations 882/2004 & 854/2004 on official controls

• & Regulation 1255/97 on control posts

provide a good architecture for enforcement of EU law on protection of animals during transport

Copyright: Eyes on Animals & Animal Welfare Foundation

Regulation on official controls: 882/2004

• CAs shall carry out official controls in accordance with documented procedures

• These shall contain information & instructions for staff performing controls

• CAs shall ensure that staff performing controls receive appropriate training enabling them to undertake their duties competently

• Commission should work with Member States (MS) to produce model procedures which MS could draw on

Journey log deficiencies• Important parts of journey log often left blank• Law requires animal to be given food, water & 24h

rest after 24h travel (pigs, horses), 28h travel (cattle, sheep), 18h travel (unweaned)

• Some authorities accept journey logs with unrealistically short estimated journey times

• As a result the stops for rest, water & food that are obligatory for long journeys are neither planned nor carried out

• Authorities should verify journey time is realistic by checking it on computer program

Failure to give food, water & rest

• Requirement often ignored to give animals food, water & 24h rest during long journeys

• Sometimes no rest break at all• Sometimes rest much shorter than required by

1/2005

Failure to give food, water & rest : Suggested enforcement actions

• Competent authorities (CAs) should check periodically whether animals are being unloaded for a full 24 hours at an approved control post.

• CA of MS of departure should ask CA of MS where the 24 hour rest was due to take place to verify whether a particular consignment was indeed given a 24 hour rest.

• This can be verified from the information submitted by control post operator to CA under Regulation 1255/97

• CAs should use drivers’ records & satellite navigation systems to check whether the 24 hour rest was carried out

• Overcrowding – particularly harmful when combined with high summer temperatures, lack of water & inadequate ventilation

Copyright: Animals’ Angels

Permitted loading density often exceeded

Permitted loading density exceeded: Suggested enforcement actions

• Central competent authority (CCA) should give clear guidance to local officials as to how to check if the permitted loading density has been exceeded.

• Guidance should stress that the Regulation’s space allowances are minimum requirements - length of the journey & temperature may require increasing the space.

Insufficient headroom

Photos - Copyright: Animals’ Angels

• some compartments so low that animals touch the ceiling with their heads and/or backs

• animals forced to stand in unnatural position

• impedes circulation of air which leads to poor ventilation - particular problem in hot weather

Insufficient headroom: Suggested enforcement actions

• CCA should give clear instructions as to what constitutes sufficient headroom.

• This should be based on SCAHAW Report (2002) & EFSA Opinion (2011) – though the EFSA headroom figure for cattle is too low.

• Loading sheep onto 4 decks will almost always lead to lack of sufficient headroom. Sheep should not be loaded onto more than 3decks unless all are very young lambs.

Deficiencies in provision of water

• Water tanks sometimes empty or turned off• Drinking devices sometimes fail to function• Calves & lambs not accustomed to nipples used on many trucks &

do not know how to activate them• Cold water is an inappropriate liquid for young calves & lambs –

should be given electrolytes or milk substitutes • Many trucks have nipple systems that are unsuitable for adult cattle.

The animals cannot place their mouth round them nor press the nipple properly to get enough water for their needs.

• Drinking devices often installed on only one side of truck – many animals cannot get to them

Water provision deficiencies: Suggested enforcement actions

• CCAs should issue guidance to local officials on need to check that: – there are a sufficient number of drinking devices in the vehicle– water system & drinking devices are functioning properly– drinking devices designed & positioned in a way that is

appropriate for species & age of animals being carried.

Failure to meet requirements for journeys over 8 hours

• Bedding – often either not provided or becomes filthy

• Gap between bottom of partition & floor – can result in legs getting stuck & injured

CCAs should give guidance to officials on what constitutes compliance withprovisions on ventilation and temperature monitoring & warning system

Photos copyright: Animal Welfare Foundation &Tierschutzbund Zurich

Transport of unfit animals

• Regulation 854/2004 requires official veterinarian at slaughterhouse to verify compliance with law on welfare during transport & report breaches to competent authority

• Practical guidelines produced by range of stakeholders including the trade (UECBV, International Road Transport Union, European Livestock Transporters) welfare NGOs (Eurogroup & Animals’ Angels) & Federation of Veterinarians of Europe

Need for effective liaison between Member States: Art 26 of 1/2005

Satellite navigation systems

• Commission’s 2011 report recognises that these systems have so far failed to have anticipated beneficial impact on enforcement

• Systems must be required to have the capacity to transmit data in real time to an EU database to which CAs have access.

• This will help CAs to verify whether the journey is being carried out in compliance with Regulation.

Good practice to supervise a proportion of loadings

At loading can readily observe:• Animals being carried at above permitted

loading densities• Insufficient headroom• Use of vehicles that do not meet standards

required for journeys over 8 h - e.g. ineffective ventilation

• Unsuitable or non-functioning drinking devices• Water tanks not filled with water• Transport of unfit animals

Penalties

• Must by law be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”

• Often no penalties imposed• When imposed, often too low to be dissuasive• Excellent report by WSPA & Eyes on Animals• Commission must ensure that penalties are

effective & dissuasive

Member States should make better use of their Article 23 & 26 powers

Member States’ Annual Reports

• Article 27 requires MS to submit annual report to Commission on their inspection activities

• Report must be accompanied by an analysis of major deficiencies detected & action plan to address them.

• Data in many reports is confusing & inconsistent - analyses & action plans often missing or inadequate

• Art 27 must be taken seriously - proper reports would identify level of enforcement & provide clear plan for corrective action to improve enforcement.

EU legislation on drivers’ hours

• New paper by Rabitsch (Austrian veterinarian) & Wessely (University of Vienna law department) published in Brussels today

• Shows that if long journeys are to comply with both EU law on drivers’ hours & on animal transport, 3 drivers are needed to transport cattle & sheep for the maximum permitted 28 hours and pigs & horses for the maximum permitted 24 hours

Training of police by NGOs• Animals’ Angels, Eyes on Animals, Animal

Welfare Foundation, Protection Mondiale des Animaux de Ferme & LAV, Italy provide training to police in various MS

Eyes on Animals manual that covers important points to verify during an inspection

Eyes on Animals training for Belgian police

Animals’ Angels training for Italian police