THE CURRENT EU RULES ON BOVINE ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS: STATE OF THE ART AND ITS FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 establishes a system for the identification of bovine animals, and regulates the mandatory and voluntary labeling of beef and beef products. While bovine ear tags must bear an identifying code, the current EU rules do not regulate electronic tags for bovine. Although the current system is perceived as being efficient by most of the stakeholders and is in line with current policy objectives, it could be improved in terms of accuracy and speed in order to reduce: identification errors, notification and up-date times for the central database, and possible delays in the management of disease outbreak crises when they occur. In view of the direction already taken regarding the reinforced system for the identification of sheep and goats, it is highly desirable to move towards electronic identification of bovine animals bearing in mind that the implementing measures must permit a satisfactory community-wide introduction of such a system. Recently the European Commission proposed the introduction, on a voluntary basis, of an electronic identification system (EID) for bovine animals. This paper briefly provides a legal outline of the bovine identification and considers the benefits and/or disadvantages of the implementation of an EID. It is emphasized that bovine EID could bring benefits to farmers and other stakeholders as it could reduce the administrative burden through the simplification of the current administrative procedures; it could enhance consumer protection, improve disease prevention and control and crisis management, support the competitiveness of the sector, and improve trade perspectives.