European stall crackdown takes its time

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

In the last week of February, the European Commission started its crackdown on countries that are violating its directive banning sow stalls, two months after it came into effect and more than 10 years after it was passed.

The offenders are Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland and Portugal. The directive ordered all European countries to enforce laws compelling farmers to keep sows in group housing during most of their pregnancy, rather than single animal stalls. When the directive was passed in 2001, the only country that really took it seriously was Britain, which banned gestation stalls 10 years early, to its industry's detriment.

To see how this will play out, watch the progress on a similar animal welfare ban on battery cages for laying hens, which came into effect in Europe over a year ago, beginning a requirement for larger cages.

Countries have two months to provide a satisfactory response. Non-complying countries go before the European Court of Justice. More than a year after the ban came into effect, 10 countries with battery cages have not complied. BP