Participation in the implementation of national animal welfare legislation
The issue of adapting Ukrainian animal welfare legislation to EU requirements is in the focus of Ukrainian livestock producers and the government as a whole. After all, this issue is one of the key ones in Ukraine’s preparation for EU accession (Acquis communautaire, Title 12 – Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary).
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has developed the Strategy for the Development of Agriculture and Rural Areas in Ukraine until 2030 (approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on 15 November 2024 No. 1163-p), which, among other things, provides for the implementation of the above legislation.
Considering that many initiatives are being implemented in Ukraine to improve the situation with animal welfare and there is a high interest of producers and their associations in cooperation in this area, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy initiated a meeting of experts from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, representatives of international technical assistance (ITA) projects, specialised associations, business associations and other organisations to discuss the Roadmap for Ensuring the Implementation of Animal Welfare Legislation in Ukraine for 2025-2027. The meeting was held online on 26 February 2024.
The purpose of the meeting was to present and discuss the draft Roadmap for Ensuring the Implementation of Animal Welfare Legislation in Ukraine for 2025-2027 (hereinafter referred to as the Roadmap), which contains:
– a list of activities required to implement national legislation on farm animal welfare in line with EU requirements and their planning;
– a list of activities necessary to promote the implementation of the requirements of the legislation on farm animal welfare and their planning, with an appendix ‘Plan of information campaigns’;
– a list of activities required to create and implement a system of state control of market operators in relation to compliance with animal welfare legislation and their planning, with the appendix ‘Concept of trainings for specialists of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection’.
The SULAWE project participants (Natalia Hryshchenko and Andriy Getya) took an active part in the meeting and discussion, and presented the main activities of the project and the results achieved. The participants agreed to use the potential of the project and include it in the list of international technical assistance projects along with other projects (QFTP, ILCA II and IPRSA) invited to work on the implementation of EU animal welfare legislation in Ukraine for 2025-2027 (roadmap).
The first contribution of the SULAWE project will be the International Forum ‘Sustainable Development of Pig Production in Ukraine’, which will take place on 27.03.2025.
