Germany’s Animal Welfare Labelling: A Challenge for the Single Market

Farm Europe and Eat Europe express serious concerns regarding the draft third amendment to the German Animal Husbandry Labelling Act – recently notified to the European Commission – which introduces a mandatory classification system with significant implications for intra-EU and international trade.

While the objective of improving transparency for consumers is shared, the proposed framework risks becoming a technical barrier to trade by extending compliance obligations to importers of pork and processed meat products. This expansion goes beyond existing EU minimum standards, which are already among the most stringent worldwide in the field of animal welfare.

In particular, mandatory labelling requirements for imported products introduce additional operational complexity and risk undermining trade flows, without delivering meaningful added value in terms of animal welfare, which is already ensured through robust EU legislation and established control systems.

The proposed approach also risks undermining the work of millions of European livestock farmers, who already operate under very high standards of animal welfare, food safety, and environmental sustainability. The introduction of classification schemes that may automatically penalise certain production systems, regardless of actual on-farm improvements over time, could create market distortions and mislead consumers.

The sector reiterates the need for a fully harmonised EU approach, to avoid regulatory fragmentation across Member States and to ensure fair and level playing field conditions within the Single Market.

In this context, strong expectations are placed on the forthcoming EU Livestock Strategy, which should provide a coherent and forward-looking framework recognising the strategic role of European livestock farming, the importance of animal proteins in balanced diets, and the need to invest in innovation, digitalisation, and competitiveness.

Only through coordinated EU-level policies will it be possible to support productivity, strengthen rural resilience, and preserve Europe’s agricultural diversity, avoiding a structural decline with potentially significant economic, social, and environmental consequences.

Therefore, Farm Europe and Eat Europe call upon the European Commission to engage in constructive work within the framework of marketing standards in order to incentivise and better structure segmentation strategies designed to meet specific consumer expectations.