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Angie Van Dijk July 2024
On June 4th, the administrative court (CBb) in The Netherlands ruled in the so-called “chicken catching” procedure (see also Uitspraak CBb kippenvangen). The CBb has also devoted a press release to this ruling, which emphasizes the social importance of this ruling: Persbericht CBb kippenvangen.
Background to the case
This legal dispute has been running since 2020 and concerns the question whether chickens can be caught by their legs before they are put in transport crates. Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 (The Transport Regulation) is clear: catching chickens by the legs is against the law. Nevertheless, most chickens in the Netherlands (and EU/UK) are caught by their feet, resulting in many capture injuries such as bruises and broken bones.
This dispute has an impressive history:
the Dutch regulator on animal welfare (NVWA) initially declared Dutch animal protection group Wakker Dier’s request for enforcement action against this practice inadmissible (2021), which means that it did not substantively asses the enforcement request.
The CBb put a stop to this in 2021 and determined that the NVWA must indeed enforce compliance with the Transport Regulation.
The NVWA subsequently carried out inspections on poultry service companies (catching teams) and imposed fines for violating the Transport Regulation. The poultry service companies have objected to these fines. The NVWA subsequently converted these fines into warnings in a new decision (a de facto promise that these violations would not be enforced).
Wakker Dier has appealed against this decision to issue warnings to the Rotterdam court. The Rotterdam court ruled in favor of Wakker Dier in 2022, i.e. the NVWA must enforce the law on catching chickens by the legs and could not suffice with issuing warnings.
The NVWA then made a new decision: The companies had to stop catching chickens before the end of August 2024. Both Wakker Dier and the poultry service companies have appealed against this to the CBb.
The core questions on appeal before the CBb were whether (1) the Rotterdam court rightly ruled that the NVWA must enforce the Transport Regulation and that a warning was insufficient and (2) whether the NVWA has correctly imposed orders subject to a penalty. Wakker Dier believes that the compliance period until August 2024 is too long (after all, the issue has been running for a number of years), the companies believe this period is too short and they also think the penalty connected to the order (€60,000) is too high.
CBb ruling
In this long-awaited ruling, the CBb decided the following:
Catching chickens by the legs is prohibited on the basis of the Transport Regulation. The fact that the newly proposed European Transport Regulation may contain an exception to this ban for chickens does not change this.
The ruling of the Rotterdam court is confirmed. This means that the NVWA cannot just issue a warning, but must actually enforce the Transport Regulation with a penalty or an order subject to a penalty.
The NVWA has not properly substantiated the orders subject to a penalty. This applies to both the amount and the length of the compliance period. These decisions are therefore annulled and the NVWA must make new decisions.
The interests of animals and the interests of companies must be weighed against each other. The latter appears to be a new development in case law.
What’s next?
The NVWA must make a new decision before 15 August 2024. Wakker Dier will keep a close eye on this decision. To stay informed see: https://www.wakkerdier.nl/doe-mee/doneren/nalaten/?utm_source=GoogleGrants&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=TR-20462138557&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwnqK1BhBvEiwAi7o0X0dBwq2NjspenRelxncgCDI1N1EvJUSl93TdbHbz8agGsBXmodUvbhoCWRAQAvD_BwE
Getting advice
This post is not legal advice and should not be relied on as such. If you require legal advice on animal protection laws please contact info@advocates-for-animals.com.
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