Implications of Welfare of Laying Hens Directive for egg industry
7 February 2011
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has decided to examine the implications of EU Council Directive 1999/74/EC: the Welfare of Laying Hens.
The Directive prohibits the use of conventional cages (commonly referred to as ‘battery cages’) for laying hens from 1 January 2012.
The Committee will consider in particular:
- The implications of the Directive for the egg production, food processing and manufacturing sector
- How the European Commission plans to ensure compliance with the Directive
- Defra support for the egg and egg products industry
Oral evidence will now begin in March so organisations wishing to submit written evidence have until Wednesday 16 February 2011 to do so. Written evidence should be as short as possible and certainly no more than 1000 words. Further details will be announced shortly.
More information about the required format of submissions is given below.
Notes on the submission of evidence
Submissions should be in Word or rich text format and sent by e-mail to efracom@parliament.uk The body of the e-mail must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The e-mail should also make clear who the submission is from.
Submissions must address the terms of reference. They should be as brief as possible, and no more than 1,000 words. Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference, and the document must include a summary (no more than one page long).
Committees make public much of the evidence they receive during inquiries. If you do not wish your submission to be published, you must clearly say so. If you wish to include private or confidential information in your submission to the Committee, please contact the Clerk of the Committee to discuss this. Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate individual cases.
Personal information, such as address and contact details, should be provided separately from the body of your submission. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, no public use should be made of the submission unless you have first obtained permission from the Committee.
For further details about this inquiry, please contact Clare Genis, Senior Committee Assistant, on 020 7219 5774.
Information about the Committee can be found at: http://www.parliament.uk/efracom