Ref. Ares(2018)5683579 - 07/11/2018
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR HEALTH AND FOOD SAFETY
Health and food audits and analysis
ANNEX II
DG(SANTE)/2019-6752 – Mission Plan
PLAN FOR A TAILS MISSION TO
SPAIN
FROM 30 TO 31 JANUARY 2019
IN ORDER TO ASSIST MEMBER STATES AND THE PIG SECTOR
IN PREVENTING TAIL-BITING AND AVOIDING ROUTINE TAIL-
DOCKING OF PIGS
Note to the competent authority
This plan is designed to provide information on the scope and depth of the planned
mission. It indicates the main areas that the mission team will wish to discuss, and is
intended to assist both national authorities, and others, and DG Health and Food Safety
in its planning and preparation.
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Table of Contents
1.
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................3
2.
OBJECTIVES, SCOPE AND STANDARDS.............................................................4
3.
BASIS FOR THE MISSION .......................................................................................4
4.
AREAS TO BE INCLUDED ......................................................................................4
5.
PREPARATION AND ORGANISATION .................................................................4
6.
INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED........................................................................5
7.
LANGUAGE TO BE USED .......................................................................................6
8.
CONFIDENTIALITY REQUIREMENTS..................................................................6
9.
TAILS ADVISORY RECOMMENDATIONS...........................................................6
10. FEEDBACK ................................................................................................................6
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1. INTRODUCTION
The mission will take place in Spain from 30 to 31 January 2019. The mission team will
comprise two TAILS experts, one expert from DG Health and Food Safety and one national
expert.
The mission team should be accompanied throughout the mission by a representative of the
central competent authority. In addition, the availability of representatives of all authorities
involved in the controls covered by this mission should be ensured during the meetings.
Animal welfare is a high priority for the Commission, which has decided to target pig welfare as
a priority area from a broader set of animal welfare issues. Compliance with the tail-docking
provisions remains unacceptably high 27 years after the adoption of the original Directive
91/630/EEC, subsequently replaced by Directive 2008/120/EC. Therefore, DG Health and Food
Safety launched a project in 2016 aiming to improve the situation with a three-stage approach.
In the first phase, the Commission produced an overview report on study visits1, which aimed at
giving competent authority experts the opportunity to learn from countries, which successfully
rear pigs with intact tails. This was followed by two series of questionnaires to 26 Member States
and audits to 5, which collectively cover about 80% of pig production. Subsequently, 26 Member
States were requested to provide action plans to improve controls on the prevention of tail-biting
and the avoidance of tail-docking. In addition, since 2016 annual meetings were organised by DG
Health and Food Safety, in Grange, to discuss the state of play and the way forward. The
Commission also produced educational materials for farmers2, a Recommendation3 and a
Working Document4.
We are now entering the second phase of the project where the first step is to visit four Member
States with experts from the pig sector that can provide assistance in reviewing and implementing
Member States’ action plans. At the end of this phase, the Member States will have received
significant support and should be well equipped to implement the relevant requirements.
Once the Commission has provided the necessary time and support to the Member States, it will
move into the last phase of the project (in 2019). This will consist of traditional audits with
follow-up and enforcement, as appropriate.
As this mission is still part of the second phase – designed to assist Member States – it is not an
audit and any advisory recommendations drafted by the TAILS team may be considered as peer-
to-peer advice. Nevertheless, your services are strongly encouraged to use this opportunity to
discuss issues with the experts, give due consideration to their advice and find implementation
solutions before phase three of the project begins. We intend to share findings and
recommendations, as appropriate, with other Member States and stakeholders in order to facilitate
implementation in those Member States, which are not visited during this round.
1
http://ec.europa.eu/food/audits-analysis/overview_reports/details.cfm?rep_id=101
2
https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/welfare/practice/farm/pigs/tail-docking_en
3
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1537182200662&uri=CELEX:32016H0336
4 COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT on best practices with a view to the prevention of routine tail-
docking and the provision of enrichment materials to pigs (C(2016) 1345 final}
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2. OBJECTIVES, SCOPE AND STANDARDS
The objectives of this mission are to assist Member States' pig sectors and competent authorities
in preventing tail-biting and avoiding routine tail-docking, provide support in the transition
towards a pig sector that produces pigs with intact tails and share good practices between
Member States.
The scope of the mission includes both the competent authorities' and pig industry's activities in
preventing tail-biting and thus avoiding the need for tail-docking, such as the action plans,
measures and monitoring of progress in reducing tail-biting and avoiding routine tail-docking.
Directives 2008/120/EC, 98/58/EC, Regulation (EC) No 882/2004, Commission
Recommendation (EU) 2016/336 and the accompanying staff working document will be used as
a reference for this mission – not as audit standards.
3. BASIS FOR THE MISSION
The mission will be carried out in agreement with the competent authority of Spain – Ministerio
de Agricultura Y Pesca, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente (MAPAMA)).
4. AREAS TO BE INCLUDED
4.1 National strategies and action plans on the prevention of tail-biting and avoidance of routine
tail-docking.
4.2 Details of pig sector plans/actions, either separately, or working with competent authorities.
4.3 An overview of progress in implementing the plans above – this should include both the
competent authorities’ and the pig sector's progress, as appropriate, such as official controls,
internal audits etc, industry's own controls and any other mechanisms to verify effectiveness
of planned arrangements. This overview should have a specific focus on the problems and
solutions found during this process highlighting examples of good and best practice.
5. PREPARATION AND ORGANISATION
The mission does not involve on-site visits. The details of the TAILS experts and the national
experts and possible observer have not been finalised yet, but these will be communicated to you
as soon as they are.
The mission team should be accompanied throughout the mission by a representative of the
competent authority. The primary objective of the mission is to provide advice and feedback to
stakeholders. Therefore, it will be necessary to engage and encourage their participation.
In order to organise the mission to cover the objectives and scope defined above, the following
aspects should be considered in setting up the agenda of the two day meetings proposed below:
Meeting with the competent authority and pig sector stakeholders Day 1
Competent authority personnel should include policy officials responsible for meeting the
objectives of the action plan, including those of related departments responsible for agricultural
funding, and officials responsible for implementing and monitoring the performance of official
controls.
Pig sector stakeholders should be drawn from organisations with an input into meeting the
objectives of the competent authorities' action plan and related industry actions directed to the
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same or similar objectives. Representatives from sectors responsible for implementing industry
actions such as farmers, agricultural consultants, feed companies, slaughterhouses and private
veterinarians should be included where relevant.
The meeting agenda should include:
Very brief introduction of the missions' objectives, scope, agenda etc
Brief explanation of the national action plans focussing on objectives, measureable targets
and deadlines
Progress report on Implementation of the national action plans
Discussion on the national action plans/progress report/problems and solutions
Question and answer session with competent authorities and pig sector stakeholders on
rearing pigs with intact tails
Meeting with the competent authority and pig sector stakeholders Day 2
Participants indicated for Day 1 should be invited for Day 2
The meeting agenda should include
Brief explanation of pig sector plans/actions, either separately, or working with competent
authorities, on the prevention of tail-biting and avoidance of routine tail-docking
focussing on:
o Objectives, measureable targets and deadlines of actions related to national action
plans:
o Objectives, measureable targets and deadlines of other related pig sector initiatives
Progress report on Implementation of pig sector action/action plans
Discussion on pig sector action plans/progress report
Question and answer session with competent authorities and pig sector stakeholders on
rearing pigs with intact tails
Closing meeting and preliminary recommendations/feedback
6. INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED
Documentation in points 4.1 to 4.3 should be made available to the mission team, as they become
available, in advance of the planned visit but in any case before
9 January 2019. This will give
the team time to assess this information before the mission.
The mission team will take into account the information already received from the competent
authority on 18 September 2018 in response to the requests for Action Plans and updates sent by
DG Health and Food Safety, in July 2018 [Ares(2018)3922389 - 24/07/2018] and this should be
cross-referenced where possible to avoid repetition and unnecessary administration.
The following information should also be available electronically for reference purposes during
the meetings and to the mission team on request:
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•
Competent authority working instructions, manual of procedures, checklists;
•
Competent authority/pig sector tools to monitor progress on farm (including animal based
indicators such as levels of tail-biting and tail-docking);
•
Compliance criteria used in relevant official controls;
•
Measures to verify the effectiveness of these official controls;
•
Industry guidance for pig farmers;
•
Relevant criteria of industry quality assurance programs;
•
Relevant content of training for pig farmers / vets / consultants;
•
Relevant criteria (if available) for funding of pig farm improvement measures.
In order for the mission team to discuss/answer questions from the competent authority and the
pig-sector, these should be solicited in advance by the competent authority and forwarded to the
Commission services before
9 January 2019. Questions should be concise, focus on a single
issue, and number not more than 20 in total.
Comments on the proposed points for the agenda and other administrative details should be sent
to the
, (Tel.: direct line
, switchboard:
(+353 46) 9061 700. Fax:
, e-mail:
and copied
to
and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx).
7. LANGUAGE TO BE USED
The language to be used during the course of the mission will be English. Interpreters will be
provided by the Commission services.
8. CONFIDENTIALITY REQUIREMENTS
The provisions of Article 339 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union apply to
this mission.
9. TAILS ADVISORY RECOMMENDATIONS
There will be no report of this mission. The advisory recommendations from the TAILS experts
will be sent to the competent authority and stakeholder representatives within 5 days of the final
meeting. The advisory recommendations will be shared with all Member States.
10. FEEDBACK
The competent authority will be invited to provide feedback on the performance of the mission
once it has been completed.
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