News article, 20. December 2023

EU Commission: legislative proposals on animal transport

The proposals are far-reaching but do not address the existing challenges across the EU.

Photo: Danish Agriculture & Food Council

Over 1.6 billion animals are transported within and outside the EU every year. The current law on animal transport has not been revised since 2004. There is therefore both technological and scientific evidence for allowing new opportunities and new knowledge to form the foundation for new legislation in the area.

The Commission presented the bill at the beginning of December. It is part of the ’Farm to Fork’ strategy, which aims for sustainable agricultural and food production in the EU. Some of the more interesting aspects of the proposal relate to new requirements for transport time, area and temperature requirements during animal transport.

According to Trine Vig, Senior Adviser, the Danish Agriculture & Food Council, the Commission’s proposal does not solve the fundamental challenges of enforcing the existing rules. The requirements will be tightened for those businesses that are already doing well rather than raising the bottom line, which is vital if animal welfare is to be enhanced – the purpose of the revision.

The Commission proposes that:

Animals for slaughter can be transported for a maximum of 9 hours
Animals for further breeding/production may be transported for 21 hours, whereafter they must rest for 21 hours and then reach their final destination within another 21 hours.
Space requirements for pigs increase by up to 40%
Restrictions on the transport of animals at temperatures below 5 degrees and over 25 degrees.
5-year implementation phase.

"It’s important to bear in mind that this is the Commission’s proposal. A long period of negotiations and several separate processes await before we know how the final legislation in the area will look,” explains Trine Vig. The bill must first go to the European Parliament and the European Council of Ministers. This may take some time, and it is not improbable that the final legislation is not in place before 2025.

In Denmark, the time for transporting finishers is already relatively short and the new restrictive requirements for transport to slaughter will not have any impact on the national transport of Danish finishers.