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8hours is a Europe-wide animal welfare campaign and a joint project of our partner Animals’ Angels and the Danish Member of the European Parliament Dan Jørgensen. The campaign is strongly supported by numerous EU parliamentarians and other European animal welfare organisations, in particular NetAP.
8hours pursues the primary goal of a maximum limit of eight hours for the transport of animals destined for slaughter through the EU – and thus the abolition of long-distance transport. As Animals’ Angels has shown since 1998 with thousands of documentations of abuses during animal transport, the current EU Regulation (EC) 01/2005 is inadequate. The NetAP volunteers have been able to see this for themselves several times. For a variety of reasons, implementation is extremely inadequate. It is absolutely certain that only a maximum time limit can significantly reduce the shortcomings. For this reason, 8hours is asking the EU institutions to amend the transport regulation accordingly.
Since 1977, there have been regulations in the EU governing the transport of ‘slaughter’ animals. The currently valid EU version is Council Regulation (EC) No. 01/2005 of 22 December 2004 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations (…). This regulation governs the transport of live vertebrate animals within the EU and provides the corresponding legal guidelines.
An amendment to the Transport Regulation, such as the one 8hours is seeking, can only be made on a proposal from the European Commission, which has the sole right of initiative for legislative acts within the EU. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) stipulates that the EU Commission and the Commissioners must act in complete independence for the general good of the Communities. Accordingly, 8hours cannot directly influence the Commission’s decision to introduce or amend a law.
For this reason, 8hours has decided to go through the European Parliament, which, alongside the Council of the EU, has the right to call on the EU Commission to propose legislation.
To this end, MEPs Esther de Lange, Pavel Poc, Carl Schlyter, Andrea Zanoni and Dan Jørgensen drafted Written Declaration WD 49/2011 and submitted it to the EU Parliament in November 2011. The text of the declaration also incorporated the results of the signature collection launched by 8hours at the beginning of 2011: More than 1 million signatures were collected by the time of the vote on 15 March 2012. Over 37,000 signatures came from Switzerland – a sign of solidarity. The result contributed significantly to the success of the Written Declaration. A total of 395 members of parliament voted in favour of the document and called for a maximum time limit of eight hours. This means that 8hours has achieved its goal in the EU Parliament: the EU Commission is now called upon to act accordingly. If it does not submit a legislative initiative, it must inform the Parliament of the reasons for this.
On 7 June 2012, we travelled to Brussels together with Animals‘ Angels and other European animal welfare organisations to lend weight to 8hours’ arguments and the Parliament’s request at a meeting with EU Commissioner John Dalli. The signatures were officially handed over to John Dalli’s cabinet. The Commissioner finally declared in front of the cameras that he would ‘communicate a legislative proposal within the Commission by 2014’. However, a representative of John Dalli retracted this statement a few days later.
The cancellation of John Dalli’s commitment came as a complete surprise to everyone involved. Neither 8hours nor the EU parliamentarians behind the written declaration were able to persuade John Dalli to make a statement. In response to the events, 8hours offered the opportunity to write a pre-written letter of complaint to the Commissioner on its official website. More than 30,000 letters of complaint were received by the EU Commissioner in the following days. However, the outrage at the strict ignorance of the will of more than 1 million EU citizens remained unanswered.
The pressure had to be kept up! For this reason, a conference was planned in John Dalli’s home country: Malta. The issue was publicised via local media and Maltese voters were informed about their representative in the Commission.
Under the title ‘Animals Suffering in Long-Distance Transport: Ask John Dalli’, numerous representatives of European animal welfare organisations, veterinarians, EU parliamentarians and scientists met on 28 September 2012 to give presentations on the consequences of long-distance transport. To the surprise of all those involved, John Dalli also made an appearance. However, the large number of scientific findings presented failed to convince the Commissioner. The Commissioner continued to react defensively to the film footage of his promise, which was played in the hall: he had never said anything like that and there were currently no plans to shorten transport times by law.
Just a few weeks later, on 16 October 2012, John Dalli resigned from office in the wake of a fraud scandal. The Maltese government nominated Foreign Minister Tonio Borg as his successor. 8hours has already made contact and it should soon become clear where he stands on the joint demand of 8hours and the EU Parliament.
2008
8hours is initiated by Dan Jørgensen and a representative of Eurogroup for Animals.
2011 – Spring
Animals’ Angels becomes the patron of the 8hours campaign. Through targeted public relations work, the campaign is supported by more than 80 European animal welfare organisations within a few months.
Start of the Europe-wide collection of signatures. Goal: At least 1 million signatures in favour of the 8hours demand. The petition can be signed by any EU citizen via the online portal 8hours.eu. In addition, supporters from many European countries are collecting signatures on the streets and during on-site campaigns. NetAP volunteers are also working almost continuously to collect signatures or with campaign administration work.
2011 – November
MEPs Esther De Lange, Pavel Poc, Andrea Zanoni, Carl Schlyter and Dan Jørgensen have tabled Written Declaration WD 49/2011 in the European Parliament, which calls on the EU Commission to implement the 8-hour rule.
2012 – January
The 8hours petition reached its target of 1 million signatures at the beginning of 2012.
2012 – February
One month before the planned vote on WD 49/2011 in the European Parliament, the activists’ lobbying is entering the decisive phase. EU parliamentarians and their parties must be convinced of the urgency of the issue.
2012 – 15. March
The lobbying work of the last few months has paid off: 395 MEPs sign the Written Declaration. This means that a clear majority of the EU Parliament is in favour of the 8-hour requirement and the EU Commission can be successfully called upon to take action.
2012 – April
The 8hours brochure is published in English. With a wealth of information and arguments, it is intended to make the topic accessible to a wider public and convince them of the necessity of 8hours
of the necessity of 8hours. A short time later, it is also published in German.
2012 – Mai
The collection of signatures by 8hours comes to an end. The final result: 1,103,248 EU citizens sign the petition.
2012 – 9. Mai
The EU Parliament committees ENVI and TRAN support the 8-hour demand.
2012 – 7. June
The signatures collected will be officially handed over to EU Commissioner John Dalli (Health and Consumer Protection) at a meeting with his cabinet. The Commissioner has promised to fulfil the Parliament’s call by 2014.
2012 – June
A representative of John Dalli denies the Commissioner’s promise. More than 30,000 letters of complaint will reach his office in the coming days. However, the Commissioner does not comment on the events.
2012 – August / September
To increase the pressure on John Dalli, 8hours is planning a conference in his home country of Malta. The conference entitled ‘Animal Suffering in Long-Distance Transport: Ask John Dalli’ will start on 28 September with many prominent speakers. Surprisingly, John Dalli himself will also be attending the conference, but he still refuses to honour his promise.
2012 – October
Animals’ Angels investigates the consequences of live animal exports from the EU to third countries (Lebanon). The shocking results will be used to favourably influence the vote on the Wojciechowski Report in the EU Parliament planned for December.
2012 – 12. December
In a plenary session of the European Parliament, 552 MEPs vote in favour of Janusz Wojciechowski’s report. The report, presented by the Polish MEP on his own initiative, calls on the EU Commission to make a number of improvements to animal transport within Europe. The 8-hour requirement is also repeated in this document.
2013
The Animals’ Angels organisation has stopped the campaign. Despite intensive discussions with numerous representatives of animal welfare organisations, we have not been able to find supporters to continue the campaign. We ourselves do not have the necessary resources to do this alone. Although the campaign is therefore no longer running, we hope that the preparatory work in Brussels will lead to a change in the law at some point. We will keep at it and continue to fight for a better position for ‘farm’ animals.
Still unspeakable suffering during transport for slaughter:
7 June 2012: Together with our partner Animals’ Angels, we handed over over 1.1 million signatures in Brussels. Over 1.1 million signatures against long transports to slaughter. The majority of the EU Parliament supports our demand. Because the conditions during transport for slaughter in Europe are catastrophic!
7 June 2013: Over 1.1 million citizens in Europe are still waiting in vain for an answer to the demand for a time limit on slaughter transports. The majority of the EU Parliament still supports our demand. The conditions during transport for slaughter are still catastrophic.
More than 1.1 million Europeans are calling for a restriction on transport times for animals destined for slaughter by signing the 8hours petition.
The majority of Parliament called for a restriction on transport times for animals destined for slaughter by signing Declaration 49/2011.
Countless documentaries, pictures and reports on long-term transports of animals destined for slaughter show that not even the existing laws are being enforced.
The animals suffer from thirst, heat or cold, lack of space, fear, pain and much more. As the Commission’s report shows, long-distance transport has increased massively since the existing law came into force and has not been reduced.
Although the dialogue with Commissioner Tonio Borg is ongoing, no concrete measures have been promised to minimise or end the suffering of animals on long-distance transports.
It’s about money, kilos, quantities. It’s never about lives.
We call on all relevant ministers of the EU Member States to allocate adequate resources to at least ensure enforcement of the existing regulation, which is routinely violated, and to take a clear position in favour of revising the existing legislation. To finally put an end to the long-term transport of animals destined for slaughter.
Because it’s not about money, kilos or numbers. It’s about life!
In October, the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee spoke out in favour of stricter requirements for animal transports, which, among other things, would have to provide for a fundamental limitation of slaughter transports to eight hours. In contrast to the European Commission, the committee considered swift action to be necessary, in particular a reduction in the number of animals transported and travelling times, explained the conservative Polish rapporteur Janusz Wojciechowski at the time. Long-distance transport caused animals to suffer and resulted in additional costs for consumers. The number of animals transported throughout the EU had risen by up to 70% for individual species between 2005 and 2009. A third of journeys take longer than eight hours.
The EU Parliament in Strasbourg has now also addressed the issue this week.
In the debate on Tuesday, the representatives of European citizens expressed themselves in favour of or against a restriction on transport times and a revision of the existing regulations. There was also broad agreement that transport times alone are not a sufficient animal welfare criterion; rather, attention must also be paid to the equipment of the vehicles and careful handling of the animals. Criteria such as space and drinking troughs should be adapted on a scientific basis. In order to reduce the need for long journeys, regional slaughterhouses should be promoted.
The new EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Tonio Borg (successor to John Dalli – who resigned in connection with allegations of fraud), clearly signalled that he did not consider it necessary to amend the existing directives. Rather, the existing directives should be better implemented.
In the vote on Wednesday, 555 MEPs voted in favour of a resolution on the protection of animals during transport, which will now be forwarded to the Commission and the European Council. Even if the amended text of the resolution still needs to be improved, leaves questions unanswered and relativises the 8-hour limit, it still contains significant improvements to the current situation and is a step in the right direction. The resolution sends a clear signal to the Commission and the Council that the Parliament and the European citizens are finally demanding a revision of the existing (and clearly inadequate) regulation for animals during transport (1/2005).
Below you will find the press release of the EU Parliament in DEU and ENG as well as the text of the resolution, also in both languages.