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MEPs in the European Parliament to amend European Commission plans for compulsory electronic tagging of sheep (EID)

WRITTEN DECLARATION
pursuant to Rule 116 of the Rules of Procedure

by Alyn Smith, Jill Evans, Mairead McGuinness, James Nicholson and Neil Parish on the electronic identification system for sheep (EID)

Lapse date: 4.12.20080068/2008

Written declaration on the electronic identification system for sheep (EID)The European Parliament,– having regard to Rule 116 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas sheep and goat farming is important to the social, environmental and economic fabric of the EU,

B. whereas the sheep sector is in decline owing to lack of prosperity; whereas the next generation is reluctant to enter sheep production; and whereas, if this is left to continue, the skills base will be lost,

1. Calls on the Commission to recognise that batch recording and movement standstills of sheep are more cost-effective forms of protection from disease spread than EID and individual movement recording;
2. Calls on the Commission to recognise that producer incomes in the sheep sector are characteristically low and that the implementation of EID will result in a significant cost to a sector that can ill afford a further regulatory burden;
3. Calls on the Commission to make sheep EID voluntary but not mandatory;
4. Calls on the Commission to recognise that the implementation of EID and individual recording of sheep will affect the competitiveness of the EU sheep sector on the world market;
5. Calls on the Commission to recognise that there are significant practical problems that prevent the effective operation of EID in extensive livestock systems and within climatic conditions commonly experienced in northern Europe;
6. Instructs its President to forward this declaration, together with the names of the signatories, to the Council, the Commission and the parliaments and governments of the Member States.