The role of the UK in advocating for higher animal welfare standards
Dr Ludivine Petetin, Cardiff University
After leaving the EU, the UK will need to reinvent its international relationships, standing and influence. In particular, the UK could set a leading role within the international community when it comes to animal welfare standards, especially within the realm of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Nonetheless, the Internal Market Bill currently proposed by the UK Government could reduce policy ambitions across the UK, especially in the devolved administrations.
Strong British values
High animal welfare has been engrained in British morals and values for centuries. Philosophers such as John Locke and Jeremy Bentham in the 18th and 19th centuries were crucial in highlighting that animal cruelty was morally wrong. The Cruelty to Animals Act 1835 and the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 were the first pieces of legislation around the world to protect animals. More recently, the Animal Welfare Act 2006 includes a duty of care towards animals and makes it an offence to cause unnecessary suffering to an animal – including livestock. As such, the UK already has some of the most stringent animal welfare standards in the world.
The role of the UK on the international scene
The UK has historically pushed for greater animal welfare protection in the EU and has often been successful in advocating for reforms. The ban on veal crates is an example where the UK led the development of EU animal welfare standards . The UK banned their use in the 1990s, which led to the 1997 EU Directive laying down minimum standards for the protection of calves and banning the use of all veal crates across the EU from 2007. Further, now under EU law, animals are considered to be ‘sentient beings’, which means they possess the capacity to sense and express pain, suffering, distress and lasting harm. As a result, animals should not face unnecessary pain or suffering whilst owners or keepers should abide by a certain level of welfare requirements.
The UK could replicate this leadership at the international level by pushing the agenda for stricter animal welfare standards within the remit of the World Trade Organization and beyond - for example within the World Organisation for Animal Health and future trade agreements agreed by the UK.
The WTO and animal welfare
Interestingly, the WTO, has decided in a recent case that public morals based on animal welfare could justify trade restrictions (and even a ban) on products (for as long as these are applied in an non-discriminatory manner).
At the heart of the 2014 case on Seal Products was the EU seal regulation which prohibits the importation and placing on the market of seal products. This EU ban to protect animal welfare was justified by the EU as based on public morals. Public morals is one of the exceptions under GATT Article XX and enables countries to restrict trade. Positively, the WTO dispute settlement body (i.e. its court) agreed that the ban could protect such morals.
However, the EU seal regulation included exceptions allowing for the sale of seal products originating from specific countries. As a result, some countries were allowed to trade seal products into the EU whilst others were not, thereby giving some market advantages to some countries over others. This was inconsistent with WTO law due to the discrimination embedded in the measure. Simply put, there was a breach of WTO law not because of the objective of the measure (i.e. protecting the welfare of seals and public morals) but because of the trade discrimination it created. Thus, though potentially complicated, the WTO provides some opportunities to protect animal welfare concerns shared by the British public.
The Internal Market Bill – a possible reduction of standards?
The devolved administrations of Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland should input into decisions by the UK Government around animal welfare standards. However, the Internal Market Bill could reduce such policy ambitions. To enable the UK Government to secure future trade deals, the Bill simplifies the functioning of the UK internal market: if one nation of the UK raises its standards, other nations do not have to comply with these changes. The aim is to create minimum divergence to ensure a level playing field in the UK. But due to the sheer size of England and its market power, it could be difficult to raise standards on animal welfare in the devolved administrations. By doing so, it leads to a minimum common denominator across the UK that could stifle devolved ambitions and policy innovation. This potential for ‘power grab’ is one of the reasons why the Bill has been heavily criticised.
Overall, push for reform on animal welfare standards within the WTO could be instigated by the UK if it maintains a race to the top in animal welfare standards. Such UK policy objectives would reflect a general trend to include non-trade concerns (such as climate change, net-zero ambitions or sustainability) within the remit of the WTO. The upcoming 2021 Ministerial Conference in Kazakhstan provides the UK and wider British civil society the springboard to do so.