WRITTEN QUESTION E-1388/02 by Hiltrud Breyer (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Slaughtering of animals in accordance with Jewish rites without prior stunning.
Date: 2002-05-15
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: EU law - national law, animal welfare, competence of the Member States, protection of animals, religious group, slaughter of animals

14.11.2002

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 277 E/197

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(21 June 2002)

According to Article 4(4) and (5) of Directive 1999/2/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of
22 February 1999 on the approximation of the laws of Member States concerning foods and food
ingredients treated with ionising radiation (1), until the entry into force of the completed positive list of
foods authorised in the Community for treatment by ionising radiation:

) the Member States can maintain existing authorisations provided that they are in accordance with the
opinions and recommendations of the Scientific Committee on Food and with the provisions of the
Directive 1999/2/EC;

) any Member State may authorise the treatment of foods by ionising radiation for which authorisation

has been maintained by another Member State.

The Commission has published the list of authorisations in the Member States in the Official Journal of the
European Communities (2).

Belgium has only recently transposed the Directive 1999/2/EC into national legislation. The Commission
has identified a number of inconsistencies between the list authorised by Belgian legislation and the list
published by the Commission, namely for strawberries, gum arabic, dehydrated vegetables and tea. The
Belgian authorisations for these products are not in compliance with Article 4(4) and therefore the
Commission has requested clarification from the Belgian authorities.

The authorisation for shrimps is in compliance with Article 4(4) and this product is on the list published
by the Commission (2).

In accordance with Article 4(5) of Directive 1999/2/EC, Belgium recently authorised the treatment of
mechanically recovered chicken meat and egg white. This is in accordance with the legislation as at least
one Member State has maintained authorisation for each product. The Commission will publish an
updated list of authorisations in the Member States in the near future.

Information about food irradiation, including the list of authorisations in the Member States, is available
on the following website of the Directorate General
‘Health and Consumer Protection’ of the
Commission: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sfp/sfp_index_en.html.

(DG)

(1) OJ L 66, 13.3.1999.
(2) OJ C 43, 16.2.2002.

(2002/C 277 E/218)

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.

C 277 E/198

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

14.11.2002

The lifting on the ban on the use of pithing rods would go a long way towards ensuring that animals
1.
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?

Does the Commission share the view that,

2.
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.

(2002/C 277 E/219)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1394/02

by Caroline Lucas (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(15 May 2002)

Subject: Implementation of the Hens Directive

In July 1999 the European Union took a step forward in prohibiting the battery cage for egg-laying hens
when it agreed Council Directive 1999/74/EC (1).