WRITTEN QUESTION E-2942/96 by Gianni Tamino (V), Wolfgang Kreissl-Dörfler (V) and Nel van Dijk (V) to the Commission (8 November 1996)

Subject: Treatment to which animals in transit are subjected at the Gorizia and Fernetti-Prosecco (Province of Trieste) customs posts

A video made between March and June 1996 by the Netherlands animal welfare society (NVBD) for the Eurogroup for Animal Welfare, two years after the release of similar footage, shows seriously injured and dead animals being taken through the customs posts at Gorizia and Fernetti-Prosecco (Trieste), apparently without undergoing checks by the veterinary surgeons on duty at the border or being sent for emergency slaughter in accordance with Directive 91/628 ((OJ L 340, 11.12.1991, p. 17. )) (transposed into Italian law by means of Law No 532/92). In Prosecco, lorries arriving from Poland and Hungary (a journey of over 1 500 km) on their way to southern Italy may be left under the summer sun or in freezing winter conditions for up to two days because no customs checks are carried out on Saturdays or Sundays. In one instance, animals arriving from Russia remained without food or water for 55 consecutive days. The Gorizia post has only two veterinary surgeons rather than the 14 originally provided for, and the treatment rooms for the animals - which were built with Community funding - have not yet been brought into service. Animals are often maltreated (electric prods and sticks are used as a matter of course during the loading and unloading of animals) and many carriers are not registered with the local health unit (USL), as they are required to be. However, no proceedings have ever been brought against any of the persons responsible.

What view does the Commission take of the aforementioned video report? How may exporters and importers into Italy from eastern European third countries have given a written undertaking to comply with Directive 91/628? Does the Commission not feel that it should conduct a formal inquiry without prior warning? What direct measures does it intend to take vis-à-vis the Italian Government?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission (5 December 1996)

The Commission first received early in 1995 a complaint about the conditions in which animals, in particularly horses, are imported into the Community via the Italian frontier crossings with Slovenia at Gorizia and Fernetti/Prosecco. This complaint was accompanied by a video and also by photographs. The Commission investigated this complaint including an inspection visit. The Commission report noted breaches of Directive 91/628/EEC on the protection of animals during transport ((OJ L 340, 11.12.1991. )), analogous to those reported by the complainant. The Commission duly made recommendations to the Italian authorities in 1995 in order to achieve an improvement in animal welfare at the frontier posts involved.

The Commission is very concerned that the latest evidence supplied by Eurogroup for animal welfare appear to indicate that in some respects at least conditions at these frontier posts may not have improved. It therefore intends to intervene once more with the Italian authorities and will not hesitate to take such further action as is within its powers in order to achieve correct observance of the requirements of Directive 91/628/EEC.

The Commission does not have statistics on the provision of undertakings by importers and exporters to respect the requirements of the above mentioned Directive. The Commission is, however, aware from information obtained during control missions that these undertakings have not been consistently supplied in the past. Under an amendment of Directive 91/628/EEC, introduced by Directive 95/29/EC ((OJ L 148, 30.6.1995. )), undertakings will, after 1 January 1997 be required to be supplied by transporters rather than by importers and exporters. The Commission intends to do all that is possible to ensure that Member States consistently require production of these undertakings.