Under EU regulation 1/2005, directives 64/432/EEC and 93/119/EC, and regulation 1255/97, for national regulators to authorise the transport of horses, cattle, pigs, sheep or goats, a haulier must provide a realistic journey log complying with EU welfare rules.
A German court had asked whether these declarations should note the stages of the journey taking place outside the EU as well as inside. They include, for instance, information on watering and feeding intervals, journey times, and resting periods.
The case comes amidst controversy about the treatment of EU-reared livestock when they are sent outside the EU for slaughter, for instance in the Middle East.
The ECJ has ruled such concerns are legitimate and should be taken account of through EU controls: "The regulation does not subject the transport of animals with a point of departure within the territory of the EU and a destination in a third country to any particular approval scheme, different from that applicable to transport taking place within the EU," said the court.
"Under the EU treaties, since animals are sentient beings, the EU and the Member States are to pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals. To that end, the EU legislature has laid down detailed provisions in a regulation governing the protection of animals during transport," said the ECJ.
That said, the court noted, however, that EU livestock regulators have a certain margin of discretion to "take due account of the uncertainties involved in a long journey, part of which is to take place in the territory of third countries".
This would include where countries do not follow EU welfare standards. In such a case, the law allows regulators to accept "realistic planning for transport which... indicates that the transport will safeguard the welfare of animals at a level equivalent to [EU] technical rules."
The case was brought to the court when a German court (the Bayerischer Verwaltungsgerichtshof) referred a question asking whether journey log requirements and the competent authority’s powers to require changes to them apply to journeys involving third countries during transport from the EU.