EU CONVENTIONAL BATTERY CAGE BAN AND ILLEGAL EGG IMPORTS

That this House is alarmed by news that illegal eggs for general consumption could continue to be imported into the UK after 1 January2012 despite the EU conventional battery cage ban being brought into force on that date; notes that the European Commission has admitted that there will be a number of countries within the EU whose producers will not comply with the ban despite having been given 12 years to do so; and calls on the Government urgently to request the European Commission to support the introduction of an intra-community trade ban to stop such illegal eggs being traded outside their country of origin, take immediate action to introduce a rigorous checking mechanism for those products and work with other member states to prevent illegal eggs entering the UK market place.