EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/315

(2004/C 78 E/0316)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3761/03

by Astrid Thors (ELDR) to the Commission

(5 December 2003)

Subject: Obligation to destroy horses where nandrolon has been used

A case has recently come to light in Finland of a trotting horse being doped by the injection of nandrolon. The regional veterinary officer in the area in question claims that the law classifies all trotting horses as working animals and concludes that doped animals ought to be put down immediately and thus be prevented from ending up on the dining table despite the fact that the horse was never intended to enter the food chain. However, the relevant legislation is not clear since it is stated that the horse ‘can’ be destroyed. The law makes reference to EU Directives 96/22 (1) and 96/23 (2).

Does the Commission consider the regional veterinary officer's interpretation of Directives 96/22 and 96/23 to be correct and that this trotting horse needed to be destroyed immediately?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(27 January 2004)

Directive 96/22/EC (3), as amended by Directive 2003/74/EC (4) and Directive 96/23/EC (5), in particular Article 23(2) thereof, could be construed to require that a horse, doped by injection with the hormone nandrolone, should be immediately sent to a designated slaughterhouse or knacker's yard.

However, this does not apply if the owner of the horse excludes the animal definitively from slaughter for human consumption according to the control mechanisms laid down in Decisions 93/623/EEC (6) and 2000/68/EC (7).

Art 23(2) of Directive 96/23 provides:

2. After sampling has been carried out in accordance with Article 17, if there is confirmation of a case of illegal treatment, the animal or animals found to be positive shall be slaughtered immediately on the spot or taken immediately to the designated slaughterhouse or to the knacker's yard under cover of an official veterinary certificate in order to be slaughtered there. Animals so slaughtered shall be sent to a high-risk processing plant as defined by Directive 90/667/EEC (21).

The context of this provision clarifies that the objective pursued by this destruction of the animal subsequent to its slaughtering is to ensure that its meat will not enter the food chain, and it can therefore be construed to require that a horse, doped by injection with the hormone nandrolone, should be immediately sent to a designated slaughterhouse or knacker's yard, whenever additional official control mechanisms are not available to the Competent Authority for securing this public health objective.

Such additional control mechanisms include the identification of registered horses as provided for by Decisions 93/623/EEC (8) and 2000/68/EC.

(1) OJ L 125, 23.5.1996, p. 3.

(2) OJ L 125, 23.5.1996, p. 10.

(3) OJ L 125, 23.5.1996.

(4) Directive 2003/74/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 22 September 2003 amending Council Directive 96/22/EC concerning the prohibition on the use in stockfarming of certain substances having a hormonal or thyrostatic action and of beta-agonists, OJ L 262, 14.10.2003.

(5) Council Directive 96/23/EC of 29 April 1996 on measures to monitor certain substances and residues thereof in live animals and animal products and repealing Directives 85/358/EEC and 86/469/EEC and Decisions 89/187/EEC and 91/664/EEC, OJ L 125, 23.5.1996.

(6) OJ L 298, 3.12.1993.

(7) 2000/68/EC: Commission Decision of 22 December 1999 amending Commission Decision 93/623/EEC and establishing the identification of equidae for breeding and production, OJ L 23, 28.1.2000.

(8) OJ L 298, 3.12.1993.