WRITTEN QUESTION E-1388/02

by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(15 May 2002)

Subject: Slaughtering of animals in accordance with Jewish rites without prior stunning

In 1999 the Austrian Constitutional Court handed down a judgment stating that the slaughtering of animals in accordance with religious rites cannot be prohibited on the grounds that this would violate the fundamental right to religious freedom.

However, the slaughtering of animals without prior stunning contravenes national law, in particular the provisions of the animal protection laws in the individual federal Länder, which stipulate that animals must be stunned prior to being slaughtered. Animals slaughtered in accordance with Jewish rites have their throats cut without first being stunned and slowly bleed to death.

Commission Decision 2000/418/EC(1) banned the use of pithing rods which destroy an animal's central nervous system, stunning it and making slaughter painless.

1. The lifting on the ban on the use of pithing rods would go a long way towards ensuring that animals which certain religious communities are allowed to slaughter in accordance with their own rites can first be stunned and then slaughtered painlessly. Now that the BSE crisis has died down, is the Commission considering the possibility of authorising the use of pithing rods once again?

2. Does the Commission share the view that, in the light of the widely differing legal provisions governing the slaughter of animals in accordance with religious rites in the EU Member States, action is urgently needed with a view to standardising these provisions and bringing them into line with national law? In the interests of animal welfare, to what extent and when might it be possible to carry out such standardisation?

(1) OJ L 158, 30.6.2000, p. 76.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(28 June 2002)

1. The Commission would like to remind the Honourable Member that pithing is not a stunning method, but was used to stop post-stunning convulsions before the animal was shackled. Moreover, as far as the Commission is aware, pithing was not used in ritual slaughter, as a prior perforation of the skull is necessary to introduce the pithing rod into the cranial cavity. This perforation was generally performed by means of a captive bolt stunner, the use of which is banned when slaughtering animals in accordance with certain religious rites.

The prohibition to use pithing in relation to animal slaughter is based on opinions from the Scientific Steering Committee. These opinions bring out the fact that certain slaughter techniques, including pithing, lead to the release of particles of brain-tissue, potentially containing high titres of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy infectivity, into the blood stream. Therefore, the Commission does not intend to re-authorise the use of pithing.

2. The freedom of religion enjoys a high value in the Community law and is also subject of the Charter of the fundamental rights of the Union, which awards the right to each person to manifest religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.

Recital 6 of Council Directive 93/119/EC of 22 December 1993 on the protection of animals at the time of slaughter and killing(1) underlines the necessity to take account of the particular requirements of certain religious rites. In consequence, Article 5(2) of the Directive states that the obligation for the Member States to ensure the stunning before slaughter shall not apply to animals subject to particular methods of slaughter required by certain religious rites.

However, having regard to the competence of the Member States for cultural matters and the principle of subsidiarity, the Member States are responsible for deciding not if, but under which conditions the ritual slaughter without stunning may be carried out on their territory. Therefore, the Commission does not intend to propose further harmonisation of this question.

(1) OJ L 340, 31.12.1993.