CLA and SRPBA join forces to condemn electronic sheep tagging

The CLA has today (Wednesday 27 August) released a report in conjunction with the Scottish Rural Property and Business Association (SRPBA) condemning the proposed introduction of electronic sheep tagging in the UK in 2010.

The report outlines the CLA's and SRPBA's concerns about how the proposed compulsory electronic identification (EID) exercise will impact on farmers adversely.

CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: "Farmers today are consistently faced with new legislation that is sapping their already low income and in some cases preventing them from doing their jobs. In the case of EID, as we have outlined in the paper, the benefits are unproven and more to the point - the industry simply cannot afford it.

"The recommendation of both the CLA and SRPBA is that the Commission should scrap the proposals altogether or, if it is considered vital to public health, to fund the scheme in its entirety."

SRPBA Chairman Luke Borwick said: "This regulation will damage an industry which is already on its knees, without delivering any obvious welfare or efficiency gains. Moreover, since the regulation will only be enforced in nations with a national flock of over 600,000 sheep I fail to see how this will improve traceability across the whole EU. We need a sensible approach, and this is not the answer."

The report, put together by the CLA's and SRPBA's expert advisers in this field, will be sent to all MPs, MSP's and MEP's with an interest in the rural economy in a bid to flag up the issue.

The report argues that EID will not achieve the original objective – to respond to the difficulties of tracing sheep movements during the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001 - and that the UK sheep industry already has an individual ID system, either paper based or electronic, which begs the question, which is a waste of time?

REPORT: http://www.cla.org.uk/wdocs/EID_Paper_CLA_SRPBA_MA.doc

CLA MEDIA CONTACTS:

Oliver Wilson, Director of Communications, 020 7460 7936 or 07702 928828, ollie.wilson@cla.org.uk,

Phillippa Coates, Press Officer, 020 7460 7934, phillippa.coates@cla.org.uk

Out of hours duty phone: 020 7201 9511.

SRPBA MEDIA CONTACT:

Dick Playfair, Playfair Walker, 0131 445 5570, dick@playfairwalker.com

Media Contacts

Ollie Wilson
Director of Communications

T: 020 7460 7936
F: 020 7460 7962
ollie.wilson@cla.org.uk

Lisa O'Brien
National Press Officer

T: 020 7460 7934
lisa.obrien@cla.org.uk

Out of hours: 020 7201 9511

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