EID talks encouraging, say farm ministers

UK agriculture ministers have held “encouraging” talks in Brussels on rules governing the Electronic Identification of Sheep.

DEFRA representatives said EU commissioner John Dalli had shown a commitment to pragmatism in implementing EU rules on EID in the UK.

Commissioner Dalli met farming and rural affairs ministers Jim Paice, Michelle Gildernew, Elin Jones and Richard Lochhead to discuss a range of issues facing the industry in implementing EU rules on individually tracing sheep.

Farm minister Jim Paice said: “We need to make sure sheep EID works on the ground, and I’m encouraged by the commissioner’s commitment to help us achieve this.

“We discussed a range of issues. The commissioner will now work with agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos on guidelines on cross-compliance reductions in connection with the functioning of the system.

“The commissioner has also agreed to consider looking at extending the deadline for the requirement to individually record movements of older sheep.

“We’re grateful for his willingness to take a pragmatic approach,” said Mr Paice.

Under the current rules, farmers may have their sheep electronically read at approved third party central point recording centres, such as markets and abattoirs, instead of on farms.

This flexibility is estimated to save the industry in the UK between £7m and £20m.

The requirement for individually recording movements of older sheep, born before 31 December 2009, is scheduled to come into force on 31 December 2011.

Currently all sheep born after 31 December 2009 and retained for further breeding need to be individually electronically identified.

The Commissioner has also agreed to respond on the issue of extending the slaughter derogation to cross-border trade once he has obtained a legal opinion.

UK officials will now work with the industry to put forward more detail on these proposals as soon as practicable.