The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development jointly adopted the report by Renate SOMMER (EPP, DE) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the cloning of animals of the bovine, porcine, ovine, caprine and equine species kept and reproduced for farming purposes.
The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the commission proposal as follows:
Choice of legal instrument: while the Commission considers that a Directive is the most appropriate instrument for this legislation, Members proposed using a Regulation as the legal instrument as this would enhance legal certainty and ensure the rationality and consistency of the enforcement, while respecting the subsidiarity and proportionality principles.
Purpose and scope: Members considered that the Regulation should establish rules concerning the placing on the market and import of:
It shall apply to all species of animals kept and reproduced for farming purposes and not only animals of the bovine, porcine, ovine, caprine and equine species as was proposed by the Commission.
Moreover, the objective of this Regulation is to address concerns relating to animal health and welfare and to consumers' perceptions and ethical considerations with regard to the cloning technique. It has been clearly and consistently shown by consumer research, the majority of Union citizens disapprove of cloning for farming purposes due to, inter alia, animal welfare and general ethical concerns.
Provisional or permanent prohibitions: although the proposal qualifies the prohibitions on the use of cloning as “provisional”, referring to a “suspension” of the use of the technique, Members suggested a pure and simple prohibition.
Import conditions: Members stated that animals shall not be imported from third countries unless the accompanying import certificates show that they are not animal clones or descendants of animal clones.
In order to ensure that import certificates accompanying animals and germinal products and food and feed of animal origin indicate whether they are, or are derived from, animal clones or descendants of animal clones, the Commission shall adopt specific import conditions under Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council by 6 months from the entry into force of this Regulation and shall, if necessary, present a proposal to amend other legislation in the field of animal health or zootechnical and genealogical conditions for imports.
Traceability: the report noted that traceability systems shall be established for animal clones; descendants of animal clones; germinal products of animal clones and of their descendants. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts to establish detailed rules for such systems.
Reports and reviews: this Regulation shall be reviewed within a reasonable time, taking into account the experience gained by the Member States in its application, scientific and technical progress, the evolution of consumer perceptions, and international developments, in particular trade flows and the Union's trade relations.
By means of an official EU-Survey, the Commission shall launch a public consultation aimed at assessing any new trends regarding consumers' perceptions of food products from cloned animals.