18.2.2012

Official Journal of the European Union

C 49/6

(Case C-316/10) (<span class="super">1</span>)

(Second paragraph of Article 288 TFEU - Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 - Protection of animals during transport - Transport by road of domestic animals of the porcine species - Minimum height of compartments - Inspection during a journey - Loading density - Right of Member States to adopt detailed standards)

2012/C 49/11

Language of the case: Danish

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Danske Svineproducenter

Defendant: Justitsministeriet

Intervener: Union européenne du commerce de bétail et de la viande

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Vestre Landsret — Interpretation of the second paragraph of Article 249 EC (now the second paragraph of Article 288 TFEU) and of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 of 22 December 2004 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations and amending Directives 64/432/EEC and 93/119/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1255/97 (OJ 2005 L 3, p. 1) — Right of Member States to adopt detailed national rules relating to the minimum height of compartments, inspection height and loading density inside vehicles used to transport pigs

Operative part of the judgment

Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 of 22 December 2004 on the protection of animals during transport and related operations and amending Directives 64/432/EEC and 93/119/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1255/97 must be interpreted as meaning that:

it does not preclude the adoption, by a Member State, of standards applicable to the transport by road of pigs which, in order to strengthen legal certainty, define, in compliance with the objective of protecting the welfare of animals and without laying down any excessive criteria in that regard, the requirements provided for by that regulation as regards the minimum internal height of compartments intended for animals, provided that those standards do not result in additional costs or technical difficulties which disadvantage either producers in the Member State which has adopted those standards or producers from other Member States who wish to export their goods to or via that first Member State, that being a matter for the national court to determine. Standards such as those set out in the transitional provisions in Paragraph 36(4) of Order No 1729 of 21 December 2006 on the protection of animals during transport cannot, however, be regarded as proportionate since the same Member State has adopted less restrictive standards, such as those in Paragraph 9(1) of that order, under the system of general law;

it precludes the adoption, by a Member State, of standards applicable to the transport by road of pigs defining in greater detail the requirements provided for by that regulation in respect of access to animals in order to check regularly their welfare conditions, which relate only to journeys of more than eight hours’ duration; and

it does not preclude the adoption, by a Member State, of standards according to which, where pigs are being transported by road, the animals must have a minimum surface area which varies according to their weight, that surface area being, for a 100 kg animal, 0.42 m² where the journey time is less than eight hours and 0.50 m² for journeys of more than eight hours.

Language of the case: Danish

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(1) OJ C 234, 28.8.2010.