On 18 December 2015, under the Luxembourg Presidency and subject to the European Parliament and Council formal adoption, the Coreper (Permanent Representatives Committee) approved a final compromise on the draft "Animal Breeding Regulation".
The European Parliament and the Council representatives identified the compromise package during a trilogue meeting held on 16 December.
Animal breeding and trade
The Animal Breeding Regulation will apply to the breeding, the trade in and the entry into the EU of purebred breedingcows, pigs, sheep, goats and horses, hybrid breeding pigs and their germinal products.
The new regulation constitutes a more comprehensive single legal framework taking into account the “state-of-the-art” in animal breeding while preserving valuable animal genetic resources. Breed societies and breeding operations which will have to meet specific criteria to obtain recognition and approval of their breeding programmes by national authorities form the backbone of this regulation.
The new legislation aims at improving the functioning of the internal market and trade with third countries. It contains specific rules for promoting endangered breeds and provisions taking into account the specificities of the horse breeding sector.
As animal breeding is not intended to fall within the scope of the official controls proposal currently discussed between the Council and the European Parliament, the new regulation will include provisions on the performance of official controls which are tailor-made for the animal breeding sector.
The next steps
The Chairman of the Coreper will send a letter to the Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. This letter will indicate that, if the Parliament adopts at its plenary session the compromise text as approved by the Coreper today, the Council will then adopt in first reading that text without amending it.
This should enable the entry into force of the new legislation by mid 2016 and its application 28 months after the entry into force.
