In the future, the farmers no longer will be spoilt for choice with regard to the “Animal Protection Control Board”.

Through an amendment to be made to the Animal Welfare Act, introducing test and licensing procedures is intended to be rendered possible relating to serialised housing equipment. In the course of conducting such procedures, the housing equipment is to be tested for animal friendliness. So far, however, there is no such thing as a definition of the term “animal friendliness”.

First of all, the project is contradictory to the German government’s promise to phase out bureaucracy and to convert EU laws in a one-to-one way. Moreover, it tops off the Pig Keeping Decree which exceeds EU laws anyway. Expert knowledge almost falls by the wayside throughout all this discussing. Would this possibly be due to the fact that the issue of the “Animal Protection Control Board” is one of the last few unanswered questions from the coalition agreement which still needs to be dealt with somehow or other?

Some scientists and animal rights groups refer to Swiss models, disregarding the fact that Switzerland is not a member of the European Union and that the Swiss wall off their market. However, livestock husbandry in that country of importation cannot be compared to German or global livestock husbandry, taking into consideration the Swiss special agricultural subsidies policy and the wage and salary standards.

Being enacted as a national solo-run, the “Animal Protection Control Board” is going to further vitiate our farmers’ competitiveness.

If test and licensing procedures were established, the medium-sized stable setters in particular were made unable to field innovative products in a swift and down-to-earth way. With the conditions varying at the individual farms, it is almost impossible to set up stables in just one and no other way. Standardisation is a counterproductive thing to consider.

Furthermore, the costs resulting from any kind of test procedure will have to be borne by the German livestock keepers. Thus, the investment costs will continue to go up and burden the business situation.

The German economy is called to exert pressure on the politicians to avoid word like: “Being faced with a Hobson’s choice makes your life a misery.”