Commission Implementing Decision of 19 August 2011 adopting a work programme for the financing of the activities of the Union on alternatives to surgical castration of pigs

20.8.2011 EN Official Journal of the European Union C 243/5
COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION
of 19 August 2011
adopting a work programme for the financing of the activities of the Union on alternatives to surgical castration of pigs
(2011/C 243/06)
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (1), and in particular Article 75 thereof,
Having regard to Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 of 23 December 2002 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (2), and in particular Article 90 thereof,
Having regard to Council Decision 2009/470/EC of 25 May 2009 on expenditure in the veterinary field (3), and in particular Articles 19, 20, 22 and 23 therof,
Whereas,
(1) Regulations (EC, Euratom) Nos 1605/2002 and 2342/2002 require that the budgetary commitments of the Union are preceded by a financing decision setting out the essential elements of the particular action involved.
(2) Decision 2009/470/EC lays down the procedures governing the Union financial contribution towards specific veterinary measures, including information policy for animal health, animal welfare and food safety, as well as technical and scientific measures.
(3) Boar taint is an offensive odour that may occur when meat from non-castrated male pigs is heated for cooking. Only a small percentage of pigs accumulate high concentrations of androstenone, skatole and indole, the substances responsible for the odour, in their meat when they are sexually mature. While not all consumers are sensitive to boar taint, those consumers who are will reject the pig meat as inedible. As a result, paragraph 1 (p) of Chapter V of Section II of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 of European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption (4) provides that meat with a pronounced sexual odour is unfit for human consumption.
(4) Three main approaches to prevent boar taint in pig meat are currently pursued, namely early slaughter, removal of the testicles (surgical castration), or immunocastration (vaccination to reduce boar taint). Surgical castration of pigs is an animal welfare concern. As a result, Council Directive 2008/120/EC of 18 December 2008 laying down minimum standards for the protection of pigs (5) provides that only veterinarians or trained persons may castrate pigs and that when the pigs are seven days or older an anaesthetic and additional prolonged analgesia is to be used.
(5) The Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Animal Health and Welfare of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on a request from the Commission related to welfare aspects of the castration of piglets (6), adopted on 12 and 13 July 2004, suggests that surgical castration of pigs at any age is painful.
(6) Article 13 of the Treaty acknowledges that animals are sentient beings and that full regard is to be paid to their welfare requirements in formulating and implementing, amongst others, the Union's agriculture and internal market policies.
(7) In the European Declaration on alternatives to surgical castration of pigs (7) of December 2010, major actors of the pig sector committed on a voluntary basis to stop routine surgical castration of male pigs by 1 January 2018, provided that a European partnership on pig castration is set up to develop the necessary actions to achieve this goal.
(8) The Union should therefore invest in studies on alternatives to the surgical castration of pigs. Hence a work programme should be launched to support technical, scientific and educational measures to identify and introduce alternatives to surgical castration. The work programme should include the development of reference and screening methods for the detection of boar taint in pig meat and studies on consumer acceptance of meat and products obtained from male pigs not surgically castrated.
(9) The result of those studies may also require reconsideration of relevant Union legislation to ensure a smooth functioning of the internal market. The economic impact of the end of routine surgical castration of pigs by 1 January 2018 should be identified. It is therefore appropriate to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the cost and benefits that relevant measures would have at the different levels of the pig meat production chain.
(10) A dedicated interactive website should be set up in order to promote education and training of the main interested parties of the pig sector on the actions taken by the Union on alternatives to surgical castration of pigs.
(11) The Joint Research Centre of the Commission — Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (JRC-IRMM) in Geel, Belgium, has the necessary scientific and technical expertise to develop and validate reference methods of analysis. Therefore a Union budgetary transfer covered by an administrative agreement should be awarded to the JRC-IRMM for the development of reference methods recognised by the European Union for the detection and measurement of the main compounds responsible for boar taint.
(12) For the application of this Decision, it is appropriate to define the term ‘substantial change’ within the meaning of Article 90(4) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002.
(13) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,