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Brussels, 20.11.2006

SEC(2006) 1448

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Accompanying document to the

Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

banning the placing on the market and the import to and the export from the Community of cat and dog fur and products containing such fur Summary Impact Assessment { COM(2006) 684 final}{SEC(2006) 1449}

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION – PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION 3

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROPOSAL 4

3. POLICY OPTIONS 4

4. IMPACT - POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE 4

5. MONITORING THE RESULTS AND THE IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL 6

6. CONSULTATION OF STAKEHOLDERS AND MEMBER STATES’ EXPERTS 7

Summary Impact Assessment

the new Community measures for the trade in fur, in accordance with the draft Commission proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council banning the placing on the market and the import of and the export from the Community of cat and dog fur and products containing such fur

INTRODUCTION – PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

This proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council is intended to ban the placing on the market and the import to and the export from the Community of fur from cats and dogs and products thereof. It also establishes information requirements aimed at ensuring that information on new detection methods is made available to the Commission and exchanged between Member States, with a view to the possible establishment of common detection methodologies at EU level to identify the species of origin of fur and fur products imported or being put on the market.

The bans are intended to replace the existing varied measures established in several Member States to implement the prohibition to produce and/or trade fur from cats and dogs, and aim at preventing obstacles to the functioning of the Internal Market and thus at ensuring the free movement of fur and fur products in general. The provisions of the draft regulation also aim at ensuring that cat and dog fur and products containing such fur (fur is also used as lining or ornament on clothes, or on toys) produced outside the Community cannot be imported to it or cannot be exported outside the Community.

As a result of concerns expressed by consumers and citizens, several Member States have adopted (or are in the process of adopting or examining) legislation aiming at restricting or banning economic activities linked to the production of fur from cats and dogs. National legislators are tackling the issue with different measures, ranging from the ban on the rearing of cats and dogs for fur production purposes, to the ban on production and/or import of fur produced from those animals or to labelling requirements.

Whilst there seems to be a very large consensus across all Member States as to the unacceptability of trade and imports of cat and dog fur and products thereof in the Community, the coexistence of different legislative instruments all aimed at remedying the same problem, implies that traders are faced with a set of different legal requirements in the different Member States they wish to trade in, import or export to. As a consequence, the internal market for fur may be fragmented. Due to the public’s growing awareness and unease with the presence of cat and dog fur in the fur and fur products markets it is likely that obstacles to the free movement of those products would emerge by adoption of new rules in Member States to prevent the placing on the market of cat and dog fur.

The harmonization of the different prohibitions and/or other restrictive measures currently in place is the easiest and lightest way of preventing obstacles for the market of fur from fur animals. The evidence made available to the Commission leads to consider that the vast majority of the cat and dog fur products present in the Community originate from third countries. Thus, the establishment of the ban trade must be accompanied by an equivalent ban on imports of the same products into the Community.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROPOSAL

The Commission’s proposal aims at the harmonisation at Community level of national bans, the reinforcing of controls and data sharing concerning the trade (import bans, bans on placing on the market or combinations of both) in cat and dog fur and products thereof. This harmonisation of national bans at Community level is necessary to prevent obstacles to the functioning of the Internal Market and thus at ensuring the free movement of fur and fur products in general.

POLICY OPTIONS

The policy options considered in this assessment are the following:

Option 1 : No action;

Option 2 : Establishing a ban on trade in cat and dog fur or fur products;

Option 3 : Self-regulation;

Option 4 : Mandatory labelling.

IMPACT - POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE

The advantages and disadvantages of the four options and the reasons to follow option 2 are hereby summarised.

Option 1: No action

This option would leave the current situation unchanged and therefore not respond to the existing obstacles to the functioning of the internal market for fur products. Neither would it address the likely occurrence of further disruptions to that market due to the forthcoming adoption of new legislative measures by different Member States.

The increasing public concern about cat and dog fur or fur products being put on the internal market against a widespread feeling of repulsion for such products would also remain unaddressed.

National bans and other restrictive measures adopted at national level as regards the trade in cat and dog fur are not able to dispel consumers’ concerns.

Option 2: Establishing a ban on trade in cat and dog fur or fur products

This option would address directly the core of the issue being tackled with a variety of different instruments at Member States’ level (the undesirable presence of cat and dog fur on the fur and fur products market), thus eliminating the need for fur and fur product traders to adjust their commercial behaviour to the different requirements in place in the different Member States.

At the same time, this option would respond to the public expectations that fur from cats and dogs or such fur products are not imported and/or placed any more on the internal market. It will avoid consumers being discouraged from buying fur or fur products because they are not sure of buying fur from animals traditionally kept as fur animals.

Only very little official data are available concerning trade or imports of cat and dog fur or derived products, although it can be assumed from the anecdotal evidence available that such products represent a marginal part of the overall volume of fur and fur products being traded in or imported to the Community. Therefore, it is impossible to quantify exactly the effects of a ban that would prohibit trade and imports of such products.

For that reason it could also be assumed that the volume of trade in fur and fur products derived from animals normally reared for fur production is likely not to be adversely affected by the enforcement of the proposed ban. Of course, this statement does not apply to trade in cat and fur and derived products which are not declared as such, being such trade illegal in many Member States.

Option 3: Self-regulation

Voluntary labelling schemes already exist and aim at identifying the species of fur. These initiatives have been endorsed by fur trader associations in Italy, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom. In September 2003, the International Fur Trade Federation, a federation of trade associations and organisations representing all sectors of the fur trade in 30 countries worldwide[1], presented a new labelling initiative to improve consumer information. This label contains the scientific Latin name as well as the name of the species either in the local language and/or the English translation. The scheme has been approved in Italy by the Italian Standardisation Organisation[2] (UNI). This labelling scheme is mostly used for high quality fur.

Due to the particular nature of the trade, voluntary labelling schemes are usually not adhered to by traders using cat and dog fur or derived products thereof. In addition, also existing schemes do not always include labelling of fur that is used as an ornament and for linings or toys.

Voluntary labelling schemes are unsatisfactory to respond to deceitful labelling or illicit trade and they have actually proven useless in preventing the introduction of cat and dog fur in the Community. Consumers are concerned to buy cat and dog fur even if the product got a label as there have been reports published in newspapers and broadcasted on TV that cat and dog fur is sold labelled fraudulently under the name of another species or under a fancy name.

Option 4: mandatory labelling

This option would entail the establishment of a mandatory labelling requirement for all fur and products containing fur, whereby all such products must be labelled in a way that allows the identification of the species from which the fur (or fur component) has been obtained. Such general requirement would impose a considerable burden on all fur traders (including those who do not trade in cat and dog fur), not proportionate to the result being sought, as cat and dog fur represents only a small proportion of fur traded on the European market.

Mandatory labelling would prove particularly burdensome and costly in the case of minute fur products, where the mere presence of a tiny fur component would trigger the obligation to identify the origin of the fur that was used.

MONITORING THE RESULTS AND THE IMPACT OF THE PROPOSAL

Member States have to provide the official controls that are necessary to ensure the implementation of the ban on imports, exports and the trade in cat and dog fur and products thereof. As a consequence Competent Authorities have to make use of proper analytical methods to detect fur from these species.

The Commission is aware that some Member States have already developed and applied several analytical methods for distinguishing cat and dog fur from other fur. On this basis Member States will be able inter alia to communicate information on the analytical method used in their territory, to identify the species from which a fur is derived and to provide concrete results from the enforcement of the proposed measure.

The checks carried out during border inspections and on the territory of the Member States as well as the results of these checks will constitute the principal indicator for the achievement of the objectives of the proposed Regulation. The Standing Committee would represent a suitable forum to exchange the information necessary for the monitoring of the efficiency of the proposed measure.

CONSULTATION OF STAKEHOLDERS AND MEMBER STATES’ EXPERTS

At the Agriculture Council on 30 May 2005 and on 19 June 2006 (as explicitly stated in the Presidency Conclusions), Member States have specifically requested the Commission to introduce measures for a ban on trade of cat and dog fur at Community level. Several Members of the European Parliament but also national parliaments have repeatedly requested that the Commission takes an initiative on the issue. Furthermore, a massive number of letters from concerned citizens on the issue have been sent to the Commission in recent years.

There is no official data on the trade in cat and dog fur available. Requests to EUROSTAT and the Member States have not yielded any significant data. Cat and dog fur are at the moment only detected incidentally on the internal market.

The Commission has been in contact several times with the main fur trader organisation (IFTF – International Fur Trade Federation) which pointed out that their members are not trading in cat and dog fur and that the trade in cat and dog fur is difficult to detect. Several animal welfare organisations have written to the Commission demanding action and in certain cases providing pictures and videos about the inhumane treatment of these animals in Asia.

[1] On the web: http://www.iftf.com/newhome.html

[2] UNI standard 11007.