McArthur backs call for sheep EID penalty amnesty

5.07.12pm GMT Wed 24th Mar 2010

Following a vote last week in the Agricultural Committee of the European Parliament, which supported a three year amnesty on penalties for breaking the rules for the electronic identification (EID) of sheep, Orkney MSP, Liam McArthur, is seeking the support of MSPs for his call to the Scottish Government to introduce an amnesty in Scotland.

Last week the Agriculture Committee in Brussels called for “an amnesty of three years on cross-compliance penalties relating to electronic identification of sheep and goats”. The amendment argued that EID “is a new and complex technology and will require some time for farmers to become accustomed to and road-test”. The Committee also called on the Commission to conduct a thorough review of the EID regulation.

Liam McArthur has today tabled a motion drawing attention to the call from Brussels and calling on the Scottish Government to seek the agreement of the European Commission for the early introduction of such an amnesty in Scotland

Commenting, Mr McArthur said:

“This welcome support from the MEPs on the Agriculture Committee in Brussels opens the door to Richard Lochhead to go to the Commission to win this amnesty for Scotland’s farmers and crofters. And he needs to do this without delay.

“The EID technology is far from perfect, the pilot has shown this, so there is a real danger that farmers and crofters could be penalised because the system is not working, or even because they make a mistake when trying to come to terms with it. Despite the valid fears of the agricultural industry, the Government has gone ahead and imposed this new unproven system on sheep producers, ignoring calls for the shortcomings of the system to be addressed to make it more workable. The result is far from satisfactory. But a 3 year amnesty on penalties would at least give time for the system to bed in, for farmers and crofters to get used to working with it and for the technical problems to be ironed out.

“I hope that my motion will receive cross-party support and that the Government will listen to the call for an amnesty and act on it.”