EU ratifies first trade agreement with animal welfare condition and climate change rules

23 Nov 2023 --- The European Parliament approved the EU-New Zealand free trade agreement (FTA) yesterday, marking the first time the EU has ratified a trade deal limiting market access based on animal welfare standards. The FTA is also the EU’s first to include binding commitments to the Paris Agreement and core International Labour Organization standards.

Although the deal liberalizes trade in most animal-based products and will likely stimulate animal agriculture in the EU and New Zealand, the beef quota is restricted to grass-fed animals and explicitly excludes feedlots. This condition sets a precedent for animal welfare standards in EU trade policy and supports environmental sustainability.

Animal protection groups welcome this condition as feedlots are highly detrimental to animals, provoking respiratory and digestive diseases — the main causes of cattle death under such rearing conditions. Moreover, feedlots are a major source of soil, air and water pollution.

“This agreement shows that with the right political willingness, the EU can take into account animal welfare concerns in its trade policy. This FTA should give the right impetus to repeat animal welfare conditions in other trade agreements, especially where a beef quota is negotiated,” says Reineke Hameleers, CEO at Eurogroup for Animals.

However, Eurogroup for Animals argues the FTA could have had stronger provisions — for example, explicitly linking animal welfare to sustainable food systems and setting concrete targets for cooperation on animal welfare.

Precedent set
The EU-New Zealand deal is only the second time the EU has negotiated an animal welfare condition in an FTA since the controversial EU-Mercosur FTA introduced the first in relation to shelled eggs. Yet, while the volume of shelled eggs imported by the EU from Mercosur countries is relatively low, the EU has established an animal welfare condition with New Zealand for one of the partners’ most traded animal products — beef.The EU has included an animal welfare condition in a trade deal for the first time, but animal protection groups want stronger provisions.

“The precedent demonstrates that with political willingness, production methods that are invisible in the end product, but have huge impacts on animals, people and the environment, can and should be taken into account in trade negotiations,” Stephanie Ghislain, political affairs manager at Eurogroup for Animals, tells Food Ingredients First.

“Another very positive point is that the EU explicitly added this condition for sustainability reasons. Now that the EU is negotiating with agricultural powerhouses (Mercosur countries, India, Australia), animal welfare must be part of the discussions: why would feedlots not be acceptable with New Zealand but acceptable and even encouraged with Mercosur countries or Australia?”

Animal protection groups are concerned that the unconditional trade liberalization in those FTAs is likely to foster the development of feedlots in countries where they exist.

“Neither the EU nor New Zealand have (many) feedlots, but as trade agreements are meant to last, the tariff liberalization could drive the intensification of farming and eventually lead to feedlots being set up. It’s important to retain the political and economic incentive that only products deriving from grass-fed animals can benefit from the FTA,” adds Ghislain.

Non-committal concerns
Under negotiation for five years, the “gold standard” EU-New Zealand FTA was approved with 524 votes in favor, 85 against and 21 abstentions. The FTA is the first EU trade deal integrating sanctions in its Trade and Sustainable Development chapter and includes a chapter on animal welfare cooperation.

“While the chapter on animal welfare cooperation is welcome, the language is non-committal — specifically for provisions related to wild and aquatic animals, with words that focus on ‘acknowledgment’ or ‘support.’ This language means that even in case of failure to comply with these provisions, no violation can be found,” says Ghislain.The EU and New Zealand excluded feedlot-derived beef from the FTA to alleviate soil, air and water pollution and reduce animal suffering.

“The non-committal language is also unfortunate as the EU and New Zealand, two like-minded partners, could work together on issues such as banning live transport, which is under discussion as highlighted by the European Parliament’s resolution.”

For these reasons, Eurogroup for Animals supports the European Parliament’s stand to “quickly establish the domestic advisory groups” around such issues.

Meanwhile, the FTA could also have set animal welfare conditions for other animal products that were traded, including for imports into New Zealand, argues Ghislain.

“For instance, if New Zealand had set such conditions on pig meat imports, it could have significantly driven higher welfare and cage-free pig farming in EU countries such as Spain,” she says.

The latest Eurobarometer showed that 8 in 10 Europeans (84%) believe that the way the EU imports animal products must change, either by imposing import requirements or a stricter labeling system.

In other news, the European Parliament has rejected the Commission’s proposal to curb pesticide use in agriculture.

By Joshua Poole