The European Parliament adopted the report by Mr Niels BUSK (ELDR, DK). The report calls for new, improved welfare standards for intensively reared pigs with a number of non-binding amendments seeking to strengthen the draft legisation.
Parliament endorses the Commission's proposal to ban the use of individual stalls for pregnant sows, outlaw tethering and increase the space in which pigs are reared and tightens up the provisions designed to improve training for those handling pigs.
It is also calling for a ban on practices such as tail docking and castration and wants additional rules on the outdoor keeping of pigs and the regulation of body temperature. Mr Busk's report points out that devices such as overhead sprays, as well as access to mud baths and protection against sunburn, are needed because pigs cannot sweat and are caused considerable stress when they overheat.
Parliament's amendments seek to increase the size of the flooring areas proposed by the Commission and call for the minimum welfare standards agreed to be applied from 1 Januray 2012, delivery of a Commission report on pig welfare to be brought forward from 2008 to 2004 and a ban on imports of pig-meat from non-EU countries that fail to match the standard laid down in the legislation.
Lastly, it also wants production in third countries to be raised at the WTO.�