GOOD LAWS DELIVERY: bringing citizens and decision-makers closer together on farm animal welfare

As the European Commission’s own recent  evaluation has concluded, the current EU legislation aiming to protect farmed animals is inadequate and lacks enforcement, with some of it dating as far back as 1998.   

The European Commission’s plan to propose stronger laws, including in response to a European Citizens’ Initiative supported by 1.4 million people calling for a phaseout of the use of cages on farms, has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity to update our woefully inadequate animal welfare laws. The forthcoming proposals have the potential to markedly improve the conditions of hundreds of millions of animals on farms across the EU. 

The EU laws we need

We want to see the forthcoming revision introduce strong, science-based and precise rules with quantifiable standards that are enforceable.  

We are calling for the phaseout of caged farming by 2027; the introduction of species-specific standards for all farmed animals, including fish; and a reduction in stocking densities on farms. Bans on routine mutilations and on force-feeding should be put in place.  

Species-specific rules for live animal transport, including transport of fish, should also be introduced, with overall transport time limits of 8 hours, or 4 hours for the most vulnerable species. The transport of unweaned and pregnant animals and the export of live animals to third countries should be banned.  

We also ask for the phaseout of cruel slaughtering methods, including a ban on the maceration or asphyxiation of day-old chicks, a ban on the gassing of pigs with high concentrations of carbon dioxide and on water-bath stunning of poultry. 

For more information on our asks, please visit this link.

Abuses on farms

In the upcoming months, under the #GoodLawsDelivery hashtag, we will be sharing on our social media channels some of the most controversial examples of the routine animal abuses perpetrated on factory farms.   

Our communications will centre on a fictional delivery app through which citizens can call for a change in the dreadful status quo and ‘order’ good laws for farmed animals. In this way we hope to narrow the distance between citizens and decision makers.  

We are targeting members of the European Commission, the European Parliament and national agriculture ministers, asking them to take action to improve farmed animal welfare and not to cave into the industry interest and weaken the upcoming legislative proposals. 

The Commission’s proposals will be published by October 2023. They will then be scrutinised and eventually voted on by the European Parliament and the agriculture ministers of the member states.  

Looking ahead

Our priority is to ensure that the result of these negotiations reflects the demands of European citizens by banning caged farming and radically improving the welfare of farmed animals. 

 Do not hesitate to email us at eu.office@ciwf.org