Conservative and Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson has warned today that the new EU rules for electronic identification could push many sheep farmers out of business.

In 2008, Conservative MEPs Jim Nicholson and Neil Parish launched a Written Declaration calling for the technology to be made voluntary and for a delay until the technology has advanced to the point of making it far more affordable. In December 2009, a petition containing over 8,000 signatures was delivered to the European Parliament's Petitions committee, calling for a full cost-benefit analysis before the proposal is enacted. In response, the chairman of the committee pledged to hold a review in the New Year.

In a statement Mr Nicholson said,

"Unfortunately, we are where we are with this issue and the new rules will take effect from January 1st. Now, all sheep born in the EU will have to be electronically identified. The intention of the move is to control disease, but the current ID and batch recording system in place in the UK, combined with EU and domestic standstills of sheep, is widely seen as a simple and cost-effective way of ensuring animal health.
"I must also stress that the European Commission must also apply the same EID standards for sheep imports from third countries to the EU as are being introduced for our own farmers. It's only fair and equitable that imports from other countries are required to meet the same standards as our farmers have to and that a level playing is created."
"The UK has a third of the entire sheep population of the EU - 33 million animals - and 90,000 sheep producers, so we will be disproportionately affected. Electronic tags offer no clear benefits to animal health and the costs to local farmers may push many out of business. The European Commission has been unwilling to listen to our pleas to reconsider these costly tags. Sheep farmers should be getting our help at this difficult time, not yet more pointless hurdles from Brussels."