In March of 2004, APGAW heard from the RSPCA and the British Egg Industry Council on the issue of the welfare of laying hens.

The EU Laying Hens Directive (1999/74/EC) was adopted in 1999 and implemented in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2002.  Here, conventional cages will be phased out by 2012, to be replaced by enriched cages, barn or free-range systems.  There are various milestones in the run up to 2012, including providing hens in conventional cages with more space since 2003 and providing more space in non-cage systems from 2007.  When the EU Directive was adopted in 1999, provision was made for a review to take place in 2005. 

 Enriched Cages will still be allowed after the EU Directive comes into force in 2012.  However organisations such as FAWC and the RSPCA argue that problems with enriched cages include:

-         the shared nesting area encourages competition between birds

-         enriched cages do not give enough space for birds to stretch  and flap wings

-         cage height is very low therefore perches aren’t sufficient

-         enriched cages do not satisfy dustbathing conditions

These organisations do not believe that enriched cages would improve the welfare of hens and do not believe they should be allowed in EU directive.  They believe that the enriched cage is not an alternative to battery systems and should be phased out.

 There are extra costs associated with enriched cages, barn systems and free range eggs (although these costs will vary).  There is substantial competition from outside of the EU.  Egg producers in the US, for example, can transport dried and liquid eggs to the UK and still be in a position to undercut UK producers.  Both the British Egg Industry Council and the RSPCA hope that new WTO agreements will allow for countries to make payments to their producers to offset some of the additional costs of new animal welfare measures.  They also hope that the import tariffs will not be changed at the same level under the next round of agricultural trade agreements as under the Uruguay Round.  It is generally agreed that it is crucial to allow the British egg industry to maintain competitiveness to avoid eggs being imported that are produced under low welfare standards