UK EGG PRODUCERS AND DIRECTIVE ON WELFARE OF LAYING HENS

That this House notes that in compliance with Directive 1999/74/EC a ban on the use of conventional battery cages for commercial laying hens is due to come into force in the UK and across the EU on 1 January 2012; believes that the ban should be enforced uniformly across the EU without distinction; further notes that the UK egg industry will have spent some 400 million raising standards of laying hen welfare in compliance with the Directive; expresses concern that some producers in other EU member states will not be compliant with this Directive; further notes the concern of egg producers in the UK that, should eggs and egg products continue to be produced from hens housed in such cages after 1 January 2012 elsewhere in the EU, UK producers will be put at an unfair commercial disadvantage; and calls on the Government to ensure that should production of eggs and egg products from hens housed in such cages continue after 1 January 2012 elsewhere in the EU, such illegal eggs and egg products are not allowed into the UK.