Animal Welfare Groups Raise Alarm: EU Veterinary Agreement Threatens UK Standards
- Tashi Thomas
- May 19
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 21
A veterinary agreement between the UK and EU risks undermining Britain's ability to safeguard animal welfare standards
In an open letter to Steve Reed MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, sent in the build up to the EU-UK Summit, a coalition of ten leading animal welfare organisations have expressed concerns regarding the EU Veterinary Agreement and its potential implications for the UK's animal welfare standards.
The letter from organisations Animal Policy International, Humane World for Animals, RSPCA, Compassion in World Farming, The Humane League, Animal Equality and others, highlights specific challenges which could severely restrict the UK's ability to implement welfare-based import requirements. This could:
Prevent a ban on imports of foods produced via force-feeding - pledged by Labour. Prior to the election, Steve Reed pledged that "Labour will ban the commercial import of foie gras, where ducks and geese are aggressively force fed." Any agreement must not prevent delivery of this commitment or constrain future options to enhance welfare standards through trade measures
Prevent a restriction on imports that don't meet our present or future farmed animal welfare standards, including a future phase out on eggs from cages, pork from systems using sow stalls (prohibited in the UK since 1999) and fur from fur farms (banned in Britain since 2003)
Undermine the UK’s right to implement mandatory welfare labeling requirements to EU products
"While we welcome efforts to improve trade efficiency with the EU, we cannot allow this to come at the cost of our hard-won animal welfare standards," said Mandy Carter, Co-Executive Director of Animal Policy International. "Any EU Veterinary Agreement that prevents the UK from rejecting cruel imports would undermine decades of progress and contradict the Government’s own commitment. We need a deal that upholds, not erodes, our ethical standards."
A veterinary agreement is a set of harmonised regulations that standardises requirements across multiple countries or jurisdictions, such as that within the European Union, to facilitate trade. In the UK context, an EU-UK vet agreement would reduce red tape that has arisen because of Brexit. Labour’s 2024 General Election Manifesto committed to “improve the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU, by tearing down unnecessary barriers to trade. We will seek to negotiate a veterinary agreement to prevent unnecessary border checks and help tackle the cost of food.”
Recent developments highlight why maintaining the UK’s flexibility matters. The UK has seen significant increases in imports of lower-welfare products, with nearly 60% of pork coming from countries where sow stalls are still permitted. Similarly, in 2023 the UK imported over 281 tonnes of fur products, despite having banned fur farming domestically in legislation since 2003 due to welfare concerns. Without the ability to restrict imports that don't meet our standards, we risk undermining both domestic legislation and public expectations - recent polling shows that 77% of the British public believe that when we ban a farming practice in the UK for being too cruel, we should also ban imports of products produced the same way overseas.
The groups urged Secretary Reed to confirm that his Department will ensure that any veterinary agreement preserves the UK's right to apply import restrictions and labelling requirements based on animal welfare.
Earlier this year the EU agreed in its Vision for Agriculture that it would call for all imported products to abide by the same animal welfare standards as those applied to EU products. This creates an opportunity for the UK to adopt a similar approach in its negotiating position, upholding its commitment to high animal welfare standards while still enjoying the benefits of reduced trade friction.
Read the full letter.
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