Better protection for laboratory animals and rules against illegal timber

At the Council meeting on 15 December in Brussels, the EU agriculture and fisheries ministers discussed animal welfare labelling and better protection for laboratory animals, and reached an agreement on rules against illegally logged timber. The negotiations on the total allowable catch for the most important fish stocks in 2010 are continuing during Tuesday evening.

Rules against illegally logged timber

The ministers reached a political agreement on rules on the obligations of companies selling timber and wood products in the EU. The purpose of the regulation is to minimise the risk of illegally logged timber, or products made from such timber, being released onto the EU market. The proposal concentrates on the first occasion when timber and wood products are made available on the EU market. The rules will oblige those involved to ensure, as far as is possible, that the timber or wood products on the market are legally logged. In other words, the regulation focuses on the actions of the operators rather than on the products.

Better protection for laboratory animals

In the afternoon, the ministers received a status report from the negotiations with the European Parliament on a draft directive aimed at strengthening the protection of animals used in experiments and coordinating the legislation on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. For example, a requirement is introduced for a basic evaluation of every individual experiment. Breeders and users of laboratory animals will establish a special animal welfare body, which will work with animal protection at local level. In addition, binding rules are introduced on how laboratory animals are kept and cared for, and what methods of destruction may be used. After intensive work all autumn, the Council and the European Parliament have now reached agreement on all the issues. However, certain technical adaptations as a result of the new Lisbon Treaty remain.

Animal welfare labelling and an EU Animal Welfare Reference Centre

The Commission presented a report on different methods of animal welfare labelling and on the establishment of an EU Animal Welfare Reference Centre. In short, animal welfare labelling can be described as labelling on an end product of animal origin, in order to provide the consumer with information such as the conditions under which the animal was kept. The Commission considers that an EU Animal Welfare Reference Centre could work with indicators that can be used to measure animal welfare, and coordinate and encourage research that could form the basis for better animal protection rules.