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In September 2023 (the exact date has not yet been set), the European Commission should present a legislative package aimed at revising the current animal welfare rules. The package should include a revision of rules for animal welfare on farms, including rules for cage farming, a revision of rules for the transport of live animals, for welfare during slaughter and a proposal for new rules for labelling animal welfare. The European Commission is currently finalizing the first draft of the impact assessment of the implementation of the new rules being prepared, the draft should be submitted to the Commission's Committee for Control and Regulation on 10/05/2023, then in June it should be submitted for interdepartmental consultation within the European Commission. The working version of the draft impact assessment, which is yet to be submitted for internal negotiation within the Commission, and whose content is therefore still subject to change, envisages, according to current information, a gradual ban on cage farming for laying hens, broilers, sows (including farrowing boxes), calves, ducks, geese, quail, rabbits and cattle tying. According to the provisional working version of the proposal, the Commission is inclined to set a ten-year period for the implementation of most of the new rules, except for binding housing (implementation period up to five years) and the requirement for partial group housing of breeding female rabbits. According to the proposal, the docking of pig tails (a ten-year transition period) or the cutting of beaks (after a fifteen-year transition period) should also be prohibited. Chemical castration of pigs should be introduced within ten years of the entry into force of the regulation, dehorning of dairy cows should be prohibited after five years. Calves should have roughage with a high fibre content available, as should poultry or pigs. Solid floors should be used in pig, calf and dairy farms rather than grates, laying houses and broilers should have covered outdoor porches to provide more space for the animals. The Commission is also counting on the requirement to ensure the access of calves and dairy cows to the outdoor environment, as well as the setting of a minimum space area for pigs, laying hens, broilers, calves, dairy cows and rabbits, with a ten-year transitional period. Within five years, there should be a ban on the killing of day-old roosters (for brown eggs). The killing of day-old roosters - for white eggs - should be prohibited after ten years. Regarding welfare during killing, the European Commission currently supports the idea of mandatory camera surveillance in slaughterhouses and prior approval of stunning devices. Water bath stunning should be banned in poultry and small and medium-sized slaughterhouses, pig stunning with CO2 should also be banned, with a fifteen-year transition period (within seven years the Commission should present a report summarizing available alternatives). The Commission is also counting on limiting the transport time of live animals. The Commission proposes time limits, for example nine hours for ruminants transported by road and 21 hours for animals transported by other means. Transport by sea would have to be attended by a veterinarian or animal welfare officer. These measures should be phased in over five years. Transportation should be controlled by the weather, at temperatures above thirty degrees, transportation at night should be allowed. Within ten years, there should also be a gradual introduction of requirements for equivalent rules for imports of the relevant products, especially regarding the use of cages, mutilation of animals, space allocations, feed enrichment, killing of one-day cocks or the welfare of dogs, cats and fur animals. All agricultural businesses except small family farms selling from the yard should have a risk-based plan compulsorily developed, member states should monitor animal welfare indicators, reports should be submitted to the European Commission. According to the current wording, the European Commission should be empowered to establish additional special standards for animal welfare based on future EFSA opinions.
More information is available here.

The European Commission together with the European Research and Innovation Network in the Regions (ERRIN) published on 18/04/2023 a Manifesto entitled ‘Mission – Soil’. The Manifesto emphasizes the urgent need for measures to protect soil health, which, according to the Commission, represents a key step for further involvement at the local level through the mobilization of regions, municipalities, organizations, businesses, schools, but also citizens. The manifesto can be signed by representatives of municipalities, regions, private or public enterprises and organizations, non-governmental and charitable organizations, schools and educational institutions, as well as research institutions.
More information is available here.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on sustainable carbon cycles on 18/04/2023. Negotiations on the follow-up legislative proposal, on the proposal on the certification of carbon removals, continue in the European Parliament. Parliament adopted the resolution on carbon cycles by a ratio of 323 votes for, 257 votes against, 59 MEPs abstained from voting. Parliament says in the opinion that the proposed monitoring, reporting and verification framework should be used to incentivize carbon sequestration, the Commission should also make available to land managers verified data on carbon emissions and removals based on a farm-level, results-oriented strategy , well in advance of 2026, so that this data can be used in the framework of the expected legislative proposal on sustainable food systems and in the upcoming revision of the common agricultural policy. Parliament emphasizes that the growing interest in carbon farming should be an opportunity for farmers to change their business model and an opportunity to better reward farmers involved in the transition to agroecological and sustainable agroforestry practices. It therefore calls on the Commission to expand its definition of carbon farming practices to include on-farm mitigation measures beyond field sequestration measures and underlines the importance of ensuring the social, environmental and economic integrity of carbon farming in order to guarantee food security, a decent income for farmers and a limited impact on the environment. Carbon farming should be a voluntary activity, financial rewards for carbon farming should compensate for the additional efforts that farmers and foresters make beyond the obligations arising from EU and Member State legislation. It should be possible to finance carbon farming initiatives through the common agricultural policy or other public funding instruments such as state subsidies, private initiatives such as market solutions, a system of tradable carbon credits or through a combination of these funding options. The document must now be approved by the Council. On 18/04/2023, the European Parliament also approved an opinion on the EU Emissions Trading System (here) and the Carbon border adjustment mechanism (here).
More information is available here.

On 19/04/2023, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the supply to the Union market and the export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation, by a large majority - the draft opinion of the Parliament was supported by 552 MEPs, 44 MEPs were against, 43 abstained vote. The new rules do not ban any specific goods or trade with specific countries, but companies from third countries will only be able to sell products in the EU if their supplier submits a due diligence declaration confirming that the product does not come from deforested land and has not led to forest degradation, including irreplaceable primary forests. The reference date is 31/12/2020, i.e., no damage, deforestation or degradation could have occurred after this date. In Parliament's view, the new rules should apply to cattle and beef, cocoa, rubber, charcoal, coffee, palm oil, printed paper products, soy and wood, and to products that contain, have been fed with or derived from these commodities were produced (e.g., leather, chocolate, furniture). Controls should be risk-based, according to Parliament. Within 18 months of the entry into force of the Regulation, the Commission will, based on an objective and transparent assessment, classify countries or regions as low, standard, or high risk. A simplified due diligence procedure will be introduced for products from low-risk countries, and the proportion of economic operator checks will be 9% for high-risk countries, 3% for standard-risk countries and 1% for low-risk countries. EU authorities will have access to relevant information from companies, such as geolocation coordinates, and will carry out checks using satellite tracking tools and DNA analysis. According to the EP, sanctions for non-compliance must be dissuasive, at a maximum amount of at least 4% of the operator's total annual turnover in the EU. The document must now be approved by the Council.
More information is available here.

The European Health and Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued an opinion on 19/04/2023 regarding the content of Bisphenol A (BPA) in food and beverage packaging. The EFSA called for a 20,000-fold reduction in the current limit for the content of the substance in food and beverage packaging. According to EFSA's results, canned foods and, to a lesser extent, non-preserved meat and meat products are the main contributors to consumer exposure to BPA in the diet, but the current permissible daily intake can damage the immune system of consumers in all age groups, according to EFSA's latest conclusions. The EFSA therefore now recommends a new threshold value of 0.2 nanograms per kilogram of body weight, which is 20,000 times less than the current temporary limit (4 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day).
More information is available here and here.