Tagging rules court bid fails
mend the Germans for taking this right to the top but it was a long shot from the start,” he said. “All the same, it is right that it was pushed as far as possible.”
He supported the union call for a review into the EID regulations, saying: “This decision has underlined precisely why it is so important that the new animal health report currently going through the European Parliament gives us the opportunity to properly discuss a possible reform of this law.”
“The commission must allow an open and frank debate about how EID is working, or not, for farmers across Scotland and the rest of the EU,” he said.
Livesay said the union wanted to see a change that would allow A LEGAL challenge by German sheep producers over the implementation of electronic identification (EID) of sheep has been thrown out by a court in Stuttgart.
The challenge – which was backed by NFU Scotland – was dismissed on the grounds that, although the EID obligations might limit freedom to conduct a business, they were legitimate objectives in the public interest for a number of reasons, including the control of diseases and the welfare of animals.
NFUS vice-president Rob Livesey said: “The ruling is a disappointment but the fact remains that current requirements around electronic tagging and movement recording of sheep are disproportionate and flawed.
“The court’s opinion only adds weight to calls that a review of the existing European regulation is badly needed. That review would be an opportunity to drive some commonsense into the regulation while stripping out existing requirements that add nothing to the traceability of animals.”
Also expressing his disappointment at the legal outcome, Alyn Smith MEP said that it was not a shock decision. “I com- animals born within any farm business to receive a single flock tag and only require full double tagging with an electronic identifier when they left the holding of birth. Any movement would continue to be recorded on a central database, he added.
“Compliance standards also remain a worry for Scottish farmers,” he added. “These need to focus solely on traceability issues, with removal of the superfluous clauses that force current keepers to record all tagging and re-tagging operations.
“We will stand together with sheep farmers across Europe against the unworkable sheep EID legislation and take every opportunity to try and make sheep farmers’ lives easier.”