WRITTEN QUESTION E-0156/03 by Jillian Evans (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Maltreatment of animals at European livestock markets.
Date: 2003-01-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Central and Eastern European countries, animal welfare, import (EU), protection of animals, transport of animals

C 155 E/214

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.7.2003

What further action will the Commission take in this connection?

How will the Commission guarantee that the Euro IV level can come into effect on 1 October 2005 as
planned?

(1) OJ L 44, 16.2.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 36, 9.2.1988, p. 33.

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(12 February 2003)

The proposal on the next stage of requirements related to Euro IV to apply to heavy-duty vehicles and
engines will soon be dealt with by the Commission. This proposal to the European Parliament and the
Council is being formulated in a new way, commonly known as a ‘split-level’ approach.

The proposal now in preparation will be the first one in the field of automobile legislation with the
specific aim of improving the efficiency of the decision making process while simplifying the legislation.
As such, the proposal will require the legislators to consider only the fundamental elements of the
legislation (e.g. limit values and other elements seen to be clearly of a political nature) under Article 95 of
the EC Treaty while the implementing measures (i.e. the technical annexes) necessary to implement the
fundamental elements will be adopted through a Commission Directive on the basis of a delegation of
executive power to the Commission. This delegation is presently being addressed through the recasting of
the type-approval
framework Directive (Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6 February 1970 on the
approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type-approval of motor vehicles and their
trailers (1)).

When preparing these prescriptions concerning Euro IV the Commission has decided also to increase the
legibility of Council Directive 88/77/EEC of 3 December 1987 on the approximation of the laws of the
Member States relating to the measures to be taken against the emission of gaseous pollutants from diesel
engines for use in vehicles, by recasting it. Therefore, the existing annexes laid down in Directive 88/77/
EEC and the amendments necessary to introduce the new fundamental elements are recast according to the
Inter-Institutional Agreement of 28 November 2001 between the Parliament, Council and Commission on
a more structured use of the recasting technique for legal acts (2). However, the tools and procedures
necessary to recast legislative acts have only recently become operational. Delays have therefore been
unavoidable.

The technical prescriptions regarding on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems, durability,
in-use conformity
checking, test reference fuels and the accuracy and repeatability of the sampling and measuring system for
particulate mass emissions are prepared. They have been discussed and developed with the various
stakeholders, in particular the heavy-duty vehicle and engine industry.

The Commission will propose that these new measures apply from the dates laid down in Directive 1999/
96/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 1999, i.e. 1 October 2005 for new types of
engines and vehicles and from 1 October 2006 for all types of engines and vehicles. It is the Commission’s
aim that the dates laid down in Directive 1999/96/EC for application of these new measures be respected
and it, therefore, trusts that the co-decision procedure can be carried out expeditiously to meet those aims.

(1) OJ L 42, 23.2.1970.
(2) OJ C 77, 28.3.2002.

(2003/C 155 E/234)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0156/03

by Jillian Evans (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(29 January 2003)

Subject: Maltreatment of animals at European livestock markets

Each year, thousands of animals such as horses are transported from Eastern European owners and dealers
in particular to the more southern countries. These animals are often
to European Union countries,

3.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 155 E/215

maltreated, beaten and tortured and are not transported according to EU animal welfare laws. Why is the
ruling on sentiency not being used and enforced in these instances to prohibit such cruel and inhumane
treatment of animals?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(28 February 2003)

Animals are recognised as sentient beings in the Protocol to the EC Treaty on the protection and welfare of
animals and, furthermore, that text requires the Community and the Member States are to pay full regard
to animal welfare in formulating and implementing the Community policies on agriculture, transport, the
internal market and research.

The principal Community requirements for the protection of animals during transport are contained in
Council Directive 91/628/EEC as amended by Directive 95/29/EC (1). This Directive applies only in the
territory of the Union as presently constituted, although the candidate countries for membership are
currently in the process of aligning their legislation with its requirements.

The Commission recognises that the transport of horses from Central and Eastern European countries for
slaughter in the Community has,
in the past, given rise for legitimate concerns in relation to animal
welfare. The Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) has highlighted these concerns in a number
of
its mission reports. Furthermore, animal welfare groups have frequently provided information
concerning alleged breaches of the requirements of the Directive.

The Commission has intervened vigorously with the Member States concerned when these matters have
been brought to its attention. More recent FVO mission reports have noted some improvement in the
condition in which horses arrive in southern Italian slaughterhouses after long journeys from Central and
Eastern Europe.

The Commission is currently completing the drafting of a proposal for a new Council Regulation on the
protection of animals during transport which contains a number of provisions which aim directly to
improve the situation of transported horses, for example requiring lorries transporting these animals to be
divided into individual compartments.

More comprehensive and stringent requirements for the registration of transporters and the training of
those handling animals should also help to improve standards of animal welfare during journeys.

Last but not least, the accession of the principal countries of origin and transit of horses imported into the
Community for slaughter will mean that in the majority of cases, the whole journey will be in territory
where the requirements of Community law can be fully enforced.

(1) OJ L 148, 30.6.1995.

(2003/C 155 E/235)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0158/03

by Adeline Hazan (PSE) to the Commission

(22 January 2003)

Subject: Conditions for children in hospital in Europe

European integration is having an ever increasing impact on health systems although health care is not a
good that is traded and access to health care is a fundamental right, particularly for children who are the
most vulnerable individuals in society.

(cid:1) Does the European Commission intend to introduce measures to ensure that, throughout Europe,
conditions in hospitals are of the highest possible standards, particularly for children, and that they
meet a number of common criteria such as those set out in the 1988 ‘European Charter for Children