Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on systems restraining bovine animals by inversion or any unnatural position

Article 27(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing provides that "No later than 8 December 2012, the Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and to the Council a report on systems restraining bovine animals by inversion or any unnatural position. This report shall be based on the results of a scientific study comparing these systems to the ones maintaining bovines in the upright position and shall take into account animal welfare aspects as well as the socioeconomic implications, including their acceptability by the religious communities and the safety of operators. This report shall, if appropriate, be accompanied by legislative proposals with a view to amending this Regulation concerning the systems restraining bovine animals by inversion or any unnatural position."

To prepare this report the Commission commissioned a study (later called the "BoRest study"). Due to the specificity and the complexity of this study (in particular collecting technical and scientific data in slaughterhouses), its preparation and realisation took much more time than expected, hence a delay in adopting this report.

European Food Safety Authority: Scientific Opinion on monitoring procedures at slaughterhouses for bovines (EFSA Journal, No.12, 2013) http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/3460

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