Livestock movements, identification and tracing: electronic identification (EID) in sheep
Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 (“the Regulation”) was adopted in 2003 and introduced new rules for the identification and movements of sheep and goats in two phases. The first phase introduced double tagging from July 2005 and the second phase introduced electronic identification (EID) from 1 January 2008. This date was subject to confirmation or amendment by the Council following a report from the Commission to the Council which was to have been submitted by 30 June 2006, but which in practice was only submitted in November 2007.
- Proposal for a
Council Regulation
amending Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 as regards the date of introduction of electronic
identification for ovine and caprine animals
(presented by the Commission)
(18 KB)
-
Commissions Report
(150 KB)
The Commission’s report identifies that there are outstanding implementation issues, not least the cost, with regard to EID and that there is a need for wider stakeholder discussion before an obligatory date is set. The original Commission proposal, put forward with the report, suggested the date be set by Comitology, however, this did not receive sufficient support in Council. Council lawyers advised that if a date was not fixed by the end of 2007, the existing date of 1 January 2008 would automatically come into force. To avoid this a compromise proposal (30 KB) for an obligatory introductory date of 31 December 2009 was adopted by qualified majority by the Council of Ministers on 17 December.
Agreeing the date of 31 December 2009 represents a significant achievement in that it gives our industry two years longer than was originally agreed to adjust to the introduction of EID. News release: Electronic identification of sheep and goats.
- To inform the Commissions report Defra has submitted an evidence report (95 KB) to the Commission, based on the findings of UK trials and its own Regulatory Impact Assessment.
- Defra has produced a Draft partial Regulatory Impact Assessment on sheep and goat EID (385 KB).
The Regulation also provides for a number derogations from the requirements for EID. These include:
- a derogation from the requirement to individually identify those animals intended for slaughter before 12 months of age and intended neither for intra-Community trade (trade between EU Member States) nor export to third countries
- a derogation from the requirement to electronically identify goats, where the total population of goats is less than 160,000 animals. (Note - UK goat population is less than 160,000 so the UK can utilise this derogation.)
- a derogation from the need to electronically identify sheep and goats where the combined sheep and goat population is less than 600,000. (Note – combined sheep and goat population in the UK is on excess of 600,000 so the UK cannot utilise this derogation.)
- Defra/JRC collaborative research into the use of sheep EID in markets and abattoirs – report of field trials conducted during March 2007 (785 KB)
- Desk study into the costs and implications of EID bolus recovery in sheep (345 KB)
- Decision
(29 KB), as agreed by EU Member States, setting out the basic technical
standards for using EID with sheep
- More detailed technical guidelines, including best practice guidance and accreditation requirements, as agreed by Member States:
-
International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) - provides advice and includes full details of approved EID identifiers (tags and boluses)
- Council Regulation (EC) 21/2004 - European Commission advice on identification of sheep and goats
- International Standardization Organization (ISO) - provides information on international standards for EID identifiers and reading equipment
Defra commissioned a series of research about the practical application of EID. The most recent was in 2007 one is about Bolus Recovery and the other is a joint Defra JRC study into application in markets and abattoirs.
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Page last modified:
12 June, 2008
Page published: 12 February, 2007