Question 30506 — animals

Summary

Ms. Anissa Khedher draws the attention of the Minister of Agriculture and Food to the conditions of transport and export of live animals by sea. Each year, 3 million animals are exported by boat from Europe to third countries, including more than 150,000 cattle, sheep and goats leaving the port of Sète. The animals are often loaded onto former car ferries and cargo ships converted into transport ships. cattle. Poorly designed and poorly maintained, these cargo ships present numerous risks of injury and the watering, ventilation and drainage systems, insufficiently inspected, are not always in good working order. The journeys can last up to 15 days, during which the animals are exposed to thermal stress linked to temperature variations and high densities, lack of food and water, and to risks of infectious diseases. These disastrous transport conditions can lead to the death of animals on board. If Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005 states in Article 3 that "No one shall transport or cause to be transported animals in conditions such that they risk being injured or suffering unnecessary suffering", it is clear, according to audits carried out by the European Commission in 2017 and 2018, that this regulations suffer from numerous and recurring violations to the detriment of the protection of animals during transport. Audit report 2019-6835 on the maritime transport of animals, published in May 2020 by DG Health, reveals a series of serious welfare and non-compliance problems at the maritime stages of exports and indicates that “neither Member States nor the Commission have information or statistics on the health and welfare of animals during sea voyages. The European Commission specifies that there is currently no systematic feedback from third countries, transporters or ship captains on the condition of animals during the sea voyage or upon their arrival at their destination. Thus, the DG Health concludes that within the European Union, "there is no data concerning the conditions of animals during the sea voyage, for example, on the mortality rate. However, the European Court of Justice ruled in 2015 that the provisions of the transport regulation apply to the entire journey of the animal departing from a Member State, but also, in the case of export, to the part of the journey which takes place outside the Union (CJEU, C-424/13). In this context, she wishes to know on the one hand, on what indicators and data the minister's services monitor animal welfare during sea voyages departing from French ports, and on the other hand, how many and what type of procedures have been initiated following violations of European regulations noted over the last three years.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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