Written answers

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Photo of Ruth CoppingerRuth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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168. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has carried out an impact assessment of the effect of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on animal welfare standards. [12755/15]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The high standards required under EU animal health and welfare legislation impose additional costs on EU farmers. Without wishing to impugn or criticise the standards of animal welfare practised in the US, it will be crucial for ethical and economic reasons to ensure in the negotiations that the principle of equivalence is applied in respect of imports from the US and that the competitiveness of EU production is not undermined by imports of animals and meat from animals subject to less robust animal welfare rules. For this reason, Ireland has encouraged the EU Commission to be ambitious in ensuring that the high standards of animal welfare applied across the EU are fully reflected in a trade agreement. While it is a fact that animal welfare issues generally fall outside the WTO agreement on Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary matters, this will be a bilateral agreement and there is therefore more scope to address the issue. Furthermore, the US, like the EU has a well-developed agriculture sector and the argument cannot be made that seeking similar standards to the EU imposes unfair burdens on farmers.

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