Pig farmers in the UK will breathe easier following an announcement by the European Commission that over half of Europe’s member states will be compliant with the forthcoming partial ban on sow stalls by January 2013. Sow stalls will become illegal in Europe after the first four weeks of pregnancy when new animal welfare legislation comes into effect at New Year.

The UK, Sweden and Luxembourg were previously believed to be the only three states who had achieved compliance, but the Commission today announced a further 15 member states were expected to be ready by the time new regulations come into force in January. The Commission released the information at a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Luxembourg today.

Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Spain will all be compliant by the end of December, according to the Commission’s information.    

Sow stalls have been illegal in Britain since 1999. A Defra spokesperson today said, “The UK has been pressing the European Commission to ensure that the ban is enforced across the EU, ensuring a fairer environment for British pig farmers to compete in.”

Farming industry bodies, concerned at the apparent lack of efforts to achieve compliance with new legislation, had made efforts to protect farmers in compliant states by forging agreements with retailers and caterers that they would only source pig products from compliant states, so as not to allow non-compliant producers to undercut more conscientious farmers.

Farming Minister Jim Paice today said, “I promised to push the Commission to be as robust as possible and I welcome the approach they and other Member States are taking to improve and enforce welfare standards across Europe. It’s a pity that not everyone is going to be compliant by the deadline but from the perspective of the UK pig industry, all of our main competitors will be.”

Competitors Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium have all informed the Commission that their industries will be fully compliant with the ban by the end of this year, while Poland expects 94 per cent of its industry to have done away with sow stalls by the time the ban comes in to force.

Furthermore, 95 per cent of Austrian holdings are expected to be compliant by the deadline, as well as 93 per cent of Finnish holdings, 93 per cent of Greek holdings, and 95 per cent of Slovenian holdings.

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