Petition · past parliament

Change the religious slaughter exemption to be the same as applied in Germany.

Rejected 21 signatures

What the petition asks

DEFRA Have confirmed that in the absence of any specific requirement they take no action to monitor, control or regulate the use of the religious slaughter exemption. This small change will make the regulation of the exemption a specific requirement.
This situation is confirmed in the following documents
Ministerial contact unit request for information reference T02017
DEFRA freedom of information request RFI 9592
More animals are slaughtered under the religious slaughter exemption than are required to meet the needs of the Jewish and Muslim religious groups. The RSPCA , BVA and many other groups hold the view that the exemption causes unnecessary sufferring and its use should be minimised.

Why it was rejected

It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.

We're not sure exactly what you'd like the Government or Parliament to do.

In Germany, abattoirs have to prove the “religious needs” and define the number of
animals to be slaughtered to satisfy the needs of the religious community
concerned before they are granted a licence.

You could ask for this requirement to be included in UK law, if that's what you would like to happen.

You can find out more here:

http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN07108#fullreport

Timeline

16 Jan 2018 Petition opened for signatures
6 Feb 2018 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 21
Status Rejected
Rejected 6 Feb 2018

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.