Wednesday, 9th December 2009
Struan Stevenson has tabled an oral question requesting that sheep on Shetland be spared from EID
As a remote island with a population of only 22,000, Shetland has only one point of entry and currently all sheep and cattle moving onto the island are examined by a vet, their identities recorded and are blood tested. In this way, Shetland is already well equipped to quickly and effectively trace animal movements and therefore the recording of individual sheep movements through electronic identification (EID) within Shetland would place a heavy burden on producers and would offer no additional benefits for disease control within the UK or Europe. The implementation of EID will only serve to force the few remaining Shetland sheep farmers out of the business, many of whom keep their flocks in the most remote locations and would therefore incur the highest adjustment costs. In consideration of these adequate animal health arrangements of traceability and disease control and Shetland's isolated geography, would the European Commission therefore agree to a derogation from the EID Regulation for Shetland?
Struan Stevenson received the following response from the European Commission (January 2010) -
Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 introduced the principle of individual traceability for sheep and goats using a step by step-approach. However, the Commission has already introduced a number of measures via Comitology to further facilitate the smooth implementation of the requirements on electronic identification that will apply to animals born after 31 December 2009.
In particular, the measures adopted by the Commission in August 2009 will demonstrably reduce costs in particular for keepers with small herds. It is now possible to read the animals at the critical control points (e.g. market, slaughterhouse or assembly centre) instead of at the farm of departure. This recent amendment was particularly welcomed by the United Kingdom sheep industry.
However, the current rules do not empower the Commission to grant derogations from the basic provisions of the Regulation, such as those requested by the Honourable Member.
