Press release, 23 September 2014
In the plenary session, the Seimas adopted, according to urgency procedure, the amendments to the Law on Animal Welfare and Protection (Draft Law No XIIP-1898(2), which allowed slaughtering farm animals in a slaughterhouse without prior stunning. The new amendments received 57 votes in favour, four against and eleven abstentions.
The Law provides that slaughter of farm animals without prior stunning by methods necessary for religious rites, if these animals are slaughtered in a slaughterhouse, will not be considered cruelty to animals or their torture.
Furthermore, slaughter methods of farm animals appropriate for religious rites, control of such slaughter, instruments ensuring accounting, and meat labelling and sales procedure are to be determined by the Ministry of Agriculture or its authorised body. The explanatory note to the document emphasizes that these amendments are aimed at solving the current problem of export of meat and meat products and providing scope for finding alternative markets. According to the authors of the amendments, Muslim countries are among the soundest and most viable markets. However, they accept only those farm animals that are slaughtered in accordance with religious requirements.
The amendments adopted will take effect as of 1 January 2015.
Rimas Rudaitis, Public Relations Unit, Communications Department, Office of the Seimas,
tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]
