Press Release: Commission welcomes Council’s agreement on stricter welfare rules for transport of animals

The European Commission welcomed the Council's political agreement on 22 November 2004 of a Regulation on animal transport, which aimed at increasing animal welfare by radically improving the enforcement of animal transport rules in Europe. The Regulation was designed to increase accountability by identifying clearly who is responsible for what throughout the animals' journey and provided for the introduction of new, more efficient enforcement tools such as checks via a satellite navigation system from 2007. It also introduced much stricter rules for journeys of more than 8 hours, including substantial upgrading in vehicles standards. The Regulation recognises that most of the stress on the animals occurs around loading and unloading and therefore introduced rules to deal with situations before and after transport, for example at slaughterhouses or at harbours. At the time about 10% (17,5 Mio) of animal transport in Europe consisted of long distance transport.

European Commission: DG Health and Consumer Protection: Overview: Animal Health and Welfare http://ec.europa.eu/comm/food/animal/welfare/transport/index_en.htm

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