WRITTEN QUESTION P-0298/02 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Animal welfare in Europe and third countries.
Date: 2002-02-06
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: animal welfare, protection of animals, slaughter of animals, third country, trade regulations

C 160 E/206

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

4.7.2002

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(7 March 2002)

Council Directive 93/16/EEC of 5 April 1993 to facilitate the free movement of doctors and the mutual
recognition of their diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications (1) is based on a
minimum harmonisation of the training and on the automatic recognition for professional purposes of the
qualifications of doctor listed therein.
It concerns General Practitioners as well as those medical
specialisations that are incorporated into the directive. Specialisations can be common to all or common
to at least two Member States. While the first would give the right to automatic recognition in all Member
States, the second gives only the right to automatic recognition in those Member States for which the
specialisation in question has been incorporated into the directive.

The specialisation in gynaecology is common to all Member States and is obtained after a minimum length
of training of four years.

The German diploma ‘Frauenheilkunde und Geburtshilfe’ therefore has to be recognised automatically by
the Greek authorities, if held by a citizen of a Member State or a citizen of a third country benefiting from
the accessory rights under Article 11 of Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of the Council of 15 October 1968
on freedom of movement for workers within the Community (2). Additional examinations before the
recognition would be granted, are therefore, contrary to Directive 93/16/EEC.

(1) OJ L 165, 7.7.1993.
(2) OJ L 257, 19.10.1968.

(2002/C 160 E/265)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0298/02

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(6 February 2002)

Subject: Animal welfare in Europe and third countries

Council Directive 93/119/EC (1) of 22 December 1993 concerns the protection of animals at the time of
slaughter or killing. It lays down very detailed conditions for the slaughter of animals. In third countries,
however, different rules apply to the slaughter of animals. The Commission was supposed to be drawing
up a report comparing the relevant rules in the EU with those in third countries. That report was promised
for June 1999.

Has this report now been drawn up and,
investigations are, or are the investigations in question still being carried out?

if so, can the Commission say what

the results of

its

If the report should indicate that third-country rules on the protection of animals at the time of slaughter
or killing are considerably less stringent than European rules, can the Commission state whether and to
what extent they adversely affect the competitiveness of EU producers?

What measures will the Commission take to ensure that meat imported from third countries is subject to
the same animal welfare rules as meat from animals slaughtered in the EU, and, conversely, that it is able
to see to it that animals exported from the European Union for slaughter in third countries are subject to
the same rules governing slaughter as those set out in Directive 93/119/EC)?

(1) OJ L 340, 31.12.1993, p. 21.

4.7.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 160 E/207

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(12 March 2002)

In accordance with Article 8 of Council Directive 98/58/EC of 20 July 1998 concerning the protection of
animals kept for farming purposes (1) the Commission is analysing the information on animal welfare
legislation provided by countries trading animals and animal products with the Community. The results of
the comparison with the relevant Community legislation should be available before June 2002.

At present only the conventions of the Council of Europe on the protection of farmed animals, during
transport and at slaughterhouses, are available as multilateral agreements on animal welfare. In the specific
area of protection at slaughterhouses, all the Member States have signed the Convention as well as the
following third countries: Czech Republic, Croatia, Cyprus, Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, the Former
Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Yugoslavia.

Council Directive 93/119/EC of 22 December 1993 on the protection of animals at the time of slaughter
or killing (2) requires for meat imported from third countries at least equivalent treatment to that provided
for in this directive.

The Commission has constantly maintained its efforts to obtain wider international acceptance of welfare
principles laid down in the Community legislation and,
in the context of WTO. The
Commission will continue to work in this direction during the current WTO negotiations, while
investigating future measures and actions compatible with the present international obligations of the
Community that could support producers within or outside the Community to apply better welfare
standards.

in particular,

(1) OJ L 221, 8.8.1998.
(2) OJ L 340, 31.12.1993.

(2002/C 160 E/266)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0300/02

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Poultry consignments contaminated with dioxins

(11 February 2002)

On 18 January the Belgian authorities discovered a case of poultry fodder contaminated with dioxin,
resulting in large quantities of poultry being withdrawn from major supermarket chains which cooperate
with similar undertakings in Greece.

Does the Commission know whether consignments of contaminated poultry have entered the Greek

1.
market?

Is it satisfied by the checks carried out by Member States prior to the export of meat and if not what

2.
measures does it intend to take?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(27 March 2002)

According to the information provided by the Belgian authorities to the Commission concerning the
contamination of feedingstuffs by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in January 2002, no chickens fed with
feedingstuffs contaminated with PCBs have reached the Greek market.

An intensive monitoring system on the presence of PCBs in feedingstuffs and foodstuffs is currently
applied in Belgium. As a result of this monitoring, a contamination by PCBs above the Belgian maximum
level of 200 microgram per kilogram (µg/kg) fat for PCBs had been observed in feedingstuffs. Given the
time needed to perform the analysis and the short production cycle of chickens for fattening (broilers),
some of the chickens fed with the contaminated feedingstuffs had already been slaughtered and marketed