Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2006:735
Date: 2006-11-23
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Second Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Agriculture and Fisheries;Veterinary legislation
Concepts: Animal welfare
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Judgment Agriculture – Approximation of laws – Protection of animals during transport – Directive 91/628 (Council Directive 91/628, Annex, point 48(4)(d)) ‘Travel’, referred to in point 48(4)(d) of the Annex to Directive 91/628 on the protection of animals during transport and amending Directives 90/425 and 91/496, as amended by Directive 95/29, is to be interpreted as including the time taken to load and unload the animals. That definition corresponds to the objectives of Directive 91/628 as evidenced by, inter alia, the second and eighth recitals in the preamble to the directive in its initial version, which are to ensure a satisfactory level of protection for the animals and, for reasons connected with their welfare, to reduce their transport over long distances as far as possible. Since the directive contains no restriction on the time taken for loading and unloading the animals as such, it follows that, if point 48(4)(d) of the Annex to Directive 91/628 were interpreted as meaning that that time is not included in travel time, the duration of those loading and unloading operations would not be taken into consideration in any way, which would render that provision ineffective. (see paras 19-20, 24, operative part)