The Boletín Oficial del Estado has published a royal decree, recently approved by the Council of Ministers, which compiles various modifications to standards, already in force, and creates some new tools in order to improve animal welfare on farms and facilitate official controls. carried out by the competent authorities. This new standard is part of the legislative package to accompany the Strategic Plan for the application of the CAP in Spain and represents a reinforcement of animal welfare regulations.
The regulations provide:
- The formal creation of the coordination table on animal welfare and protection.
- Existence of a national center of reference for the livestock and aquaculture field, for which the Institute for Agro-Food Research and Technology of Catalonia (IRTA) has been designated, in consortium with the Autonomous University of Barcelona, for a period of two years.
- New values in relation to the maximum density of animals in the farms and new conditions regarding their food, water, feeders, environmental conditions.
It regulates the availability of manipulable material for animals, with the ultimate goal of reducing the need to practice tail docking of pigs. - Obligation to have an animal welfare plan for all farms above a certain size.
The farm veterinarian will be in charge of drawing up this plan, adapted to each farm. - All the royal decrees on the protection of animals on farms are modified (the one related to general conditions and those for the rearing of calves, laying hens, pigs and meat chickens).
REAL DECRETO DISPONIBLE AQUÍ
