Ovine and caprine animals: date of introduction of electronic identification

The Council adopted by a qualified majority, with the Spanish and Italian delegations voting against, a Regulation postponing the date of introduction of mandatory electronic identification for small ruminants to 1 January 2010.

The Italian and Spanish delegations made the following statement:

In a declaration, the Italian and Spanish delegations expressed their dissatisfaction with the content of the proposal and explained the reasons that led them to vote against the adoption of the proposal to amend Regulation No 21/2004.

The United Kingdom delegation, supported by the German, Irish and Slovak delegations, made a statement expressing its support for a deferment of the introduction of compulsory Electronic Identification for sheep and goats. However, given the period of time that has elapsed since the agreement of the original Regulation, the UK called on the Commission to revise its impact assessment, taking into account the cost to industry and enforcement bodies, in order to confirm, before the entry into force of EID, that the objectives of the Regulation are being met in the most cost-effective way.