Eurogroup for Animals welcomes the update to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, which for the first time includes an explicit mention of animal welfare.
On 8 June 2023, the OECD released a “targeted update” of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, which for the first time calls on businesses to uphold animal welfare in their policies and practices. The guidelines, which are regarded as a global benchmark for ethical business practices, could have far-reaching positive implications for animals across the 38 member countries of the OECD.
Unlike the 2011 Guidelines, which did not discuss animal welfare, the updated Environment chapter calls on enterprises to respect international animal welfare standards and describes “good welfare” as requiring, among other things, that the animal is healthy, comfortable, and well nourished, provided a stimulating and appropriate environment, ensured humane handling, and subjected only to humane slaughter or killing:
85. Enterprises should respect animal welfare standards that are aligned with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Terrestrial Code. An animal experiences good welfare if the animal is healthy, comfortable, well nourished, safe, is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear and distress, and is able to express behaviours that are important for its physical and mental state. Good animal welfare requires disease prevention and appropriate veterinary care, shelter, management and nutrition, a stimulating and safe environment, humane handling and humane slaughter or killing. In addition, enterprises should adhere to guidance for the transport of live animals developed by relevant international organisations.
While animal welfare has not consistently been considered a Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) issue, the new additions make clear that respecting animal welfare is part of due diligence and necessary to ensure RBC. The text allows civil society to file complaints via National Contact Point (NCP) mechanisms and engage directly with enterprises regarding their failure to ensure, through due diligence, good animal welfare for animals in their value chains. This marks a significant improvement on the previous Guidelines and we are grateful that civil society had the opportunity to provide input during the public consultation phase.
Nonetheless, the language on animal welfare leaves some room for improvement. First, the guidance to align with WOAH standards is disappointing, given that these are often much less ambitious than EU welfare standards. Further, in emphasising the necessity to comply with existing laws and regulations, the guidance overlooks the need to proactively minimise potential harms. Also, there is nothing about the need to strive for a good quality of life for animals, nor to decrease the amount of live animal transport journey time. The OECD is therefore urged to issue improved guidance moving forward.
This update is also highly welcome as it coincides with the preparation of mandatory due diligence legislation in the EU, which draws partly from the OECD Guidelines. The EU legislation will seek to embed sustainability in global value chains by ensuring EU companies identify, prevent or repair environmental and/or human rights adverse impacts. However, the legislative proposal makes no reference to animal welfare at present. Eurogroup for Animals therefore calls on the Council and the European Parliament to remedy this omission in the wake of this update, and to include robust and explicit language on animal welfare during the trilogue stage.
Around 1.5 million farm animals undergo long and gruelling journeys from Europe to other countries each year. Transported via land and sea, these poor sentient beings have few rules in place to ensure their welfare, especially when they are exported to countries outside the EU’s scope. Affecting so many species and in such great numbers, it’s vital the European Commission puts the live animal transport industry under the microscope while revising the animal welfare legislation.
In the best case scenario, the European Commission should aim towards phasing out live animal transport entirely – substituting it for a meat and carcasses trade, so that no animals should be forced to endure difficult journeys that are innately abnormal for them. At the very least, they should enforce much stricter laws within the sector to ensure these animals experience the highest possible welfare standards during transportation. We dig into the issues a little more below.
Some quick facts about live animal transport in the EU
The below was taken from our 2021 white paper, ‘Live Animal Transport: Time to Change the Rules’. Download it here for more insights.
In 2019:
1,618,275,545 ovines, bovines, poultry and pigs were transported alive across the EU and from the EU to non-European countries
Poultry made up 98% of total live animal exports, which made them the most traded farm animal species. The top EU exporters of poultry were Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands and France
57,523 tonnes of fish was reported as exported alive from the EU, with 93% of these destined for other Member States
87,817 horses, asses, mules and hinnies were transported alive across the EU and to the rest of the world.
These are not small numbers. Changes to the laws surrounding live animal transport would affect millions of lives and most kept species, making it arguably one of the most important sectors for the European Commission to address in their ongoing changes to the animal welfare legislation, especially as…
The live animal transport industry is riddled with problems
This sector is not in a good state. Current laws for live animal transport are not strong enough or go far enough to protect all the animals that are transported annually. As of this moment, the industry:
Does not have any strict limitations on journey times: Which means animals can be transported for days – or even weeks – before they get to their destination. Can you imagine being hungry, thirsty, sleepless and stressed for this long?
Permits ‘unfit animals’ to be transported: This includes heavily pregnant and injured animals, as well as babies. These sentient beings feel the burdens of live transport even more heavily than their ‘healthy’ counterparts. Sometimes, even sick animals are subjected to these journeys as well, as they are not inspected properly before being loaded onto transport vessels – which poses a big risk to both the animals they are travelling with and public health
Does not have any control over what happens to exported animals: The European Commission cannot regulate what happens to animals once they are transported beyond the EU’s borders. As a result, millions of animals ‘disappear’ beyond the scope of our welfare laws, and become the victims of potentially horrific treatment
Does not enforce good welfare conditions for transported animals: There are currently few measures in place to monitor the welfare of transported animals, meaning there’s little knowledge of what really goes on in the sector. What’s more, there’s evidence these oversights are being exploited – recent investigations by our members Essere Animali and the Animal Welfare Foundation report animals being neglected, injured and malnourished during journeys this year.
Across the world, live animal transport causes countless tragedies
The past few years have played host to a number of awful incidents related to the live animal transport industry, too.
In 2020, the Gulf Livestock 1 vessel sank off the coast of Japan while travelling to China, taking around 6,000 animals with it.
Similarly two vessels bound for Turkey – the Karim Allah and Elbeik – ended up being stranded at sea for over three months in 2020, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of cattle. We worked with the Animal Welfare Foundation to produce a report on this incident, concluding the welfare of the animals on these ships was seriously compromised from the start.
Travelling via land or sea in boats, lorries and otherwise is in itself an unnatural experience for non-human animals – and in the worst cases, it can be fatal. The European Commission must do everything it can to reduce the stress, discomfort and fear these poor beings feel while being transported alive, as well as to mitigate the potential loss of life that can be incurred through long distance exportations. It’s the least they can do.
Official bodies agree the live animal transport industry cannot be ignored – and some countries are already setting the standard for change
In 2022, the European Food Safety Authority published their recommendations to improve animal welfare during live transport, which included shorter journey times and more space for the animals to move.
Even more recently, in 2023, the European Court of Auditors released a review on the transport of live animals, concluding structural changes to the industry and more notice of welfare provisions were much-needed.
We welcome this support from these official bodies to change live transport for the better – and in fact, a lot of what they recommend echoes the steps we laid out in our 2021 white paper to improve the standards in this sector. When it comes to exports in particular, however, the Commission should go even further – by banning live animal exports to countries outside the EU entirely. Live animal exports by sea have already been banned in New Zealand, and a trial court in Brazil opted to make a similar move earlier this year. A little closer to home, Luxembourg banned the export of live animals to third countries for slaughter purposes in 2022. As the welfare of exported animals outside Member States can’t be guaranteed, and the risks are greater during these longer journeys, a full ban on this type of transport is the only move that makes sense.
The European Commission must not miss this opportunity to reform live animal transport for the better
This is a critical year for kept animals, as the European Commission continues to revise its animal welfare legislation. The only way for them to show they’re taking higher animal welfare standards as seriously as they deserve, however, is to make bold and enforceable changes to the laws related to live animal transport: an industry which influences the fates of so many sentient beings, and therefore wields enormous power over their welfare as a whole. Will you tweet in support of better animal welfare standards for all?
We’re putting the spotlight on animal welfare this year through phase two of our No Animal Left Behind campaign. Find out more about how we’re trying to change history for animals.
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