DEPARTMENT FOR
ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (News Release ref
:17/09) issued by COI News Distribution Service. 28 January 2009
Farmers in England
will not have to tag sheep intended for slaughter before they are
12 months old when the new EU Electronic Identification (EID)
rules come into force on 31 December this year, Farming Minister
Jane Kennedy announced today.
Ms Kennedy said:
"We have been pressing hard in Europe for changes that will
help to reduce the burden on the sheep and goat farming industry.
While we believe that the costs of the new rules still outweigh
the benefits, we need to avoid the even higher costs of not
complying with EU law and we're working hard to ensure that
the burden on farmers is as low as possible.
"The exemption from having to record animals that are
intended for slaughter before they are a year old could save the
industry between £8 million and £11 million per year - and we will
continue to work with farmers to ensure that the costs of
implementing the new system are as low as possible."
The Government has already secured a number of other changes to
the EID regulations which will considerably reduce the burden on
farmers, including:
* no animals have to be recorded individually on a movement
document until 1 January 2011
* no animals born before 31 January 2009 have to be recorded
individually on a movement document until 31 December 2011
* no animals born before 31 December 2009 and moving to slaughter
(directly or via a market) have to be recorded individually on a
movement document at all.
The Regulation that requires EID was adopted by the EU in 2003,
and provided for EID to be introduced from 1 January 2008. A
further two-year delay, until 31 December 2009, was secured in 2007.
Notes for Editors
1. EID is an EU requirement which introduces individual
traceability of sheep to enable more effective control in the
event of an outbreak. More information on the implementation is
available at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/livestock.
2. The Regulation provides for the mandatory introduction of
electronic identification of sheep from 31 December 2009,
including an optional derogation from the need to electronically
identify sheep which live less than the age of 12 months. This
derogation allows the use of a single conventional ear-tag instead
of electronic identification. Defra plans to consult on
implementation of the new rules and the use of the slaughter
derogation in the spring.
3. To help implementation, Defra has reconvened the EID
Co-ordination Group in England. The first meeting was held on 24
June 2008. This group consists of industry representatives and
includes independent farmers who were involved in the EID trials.
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