The control of the vehicles at the border between France and Italy: an analysis of the respect of EU legislation on animal transport.

The data presented come from administrative controls carried out by the veterinarians of the UVAC at the border between France and Italy (A32 of the Frejus) from the January of 2001 to April of 2005. During this period 136 vehicles transporting cattle and 27 vehicles transporting pigs were examined. On the basis of the stated destination, all vehicles were involved in journeys exceeding 8 hours. The administrative controls referred to the Italian legislation which effects the EU Directives 91/628/CE, 95/29/CE and 97/12/CE and to the EU Regulations n. 1255/97 and n. 411/98. The recorded violations were classified with respect to the vehicle, to the animal and to the accompanying documentation. The first group of violations included the absence of watering devices, partitions, ventilation system, bedding, lighting as well as the height of the decks and the possibility to approach the animals. The second group, which refers to the animal, includes insufficient space allowance, incorrect tying, incorrect mixing, no available water and injured and/or dead animals. The third group concerns irregularities of health certificates and of journey planning. The frequencies of violations were calculated taking into account the above classification. The incidences of violations observed regarding the vehicle, the animal and the documents were respectively equal to 44.1%, 32.5% and 23.4% for cattle transportations and 55.9%, 24.4% and 19.7% for pig transportations. The absence of partitions for cattle and the lack of watering devices for pigs were, respectively, the more frequent violations recorded on the vehicles. The overloading and the absence of the estimate of the journey duration were the more frequent irregularities observed for both cattle and pig transportations referring to the animal and accompanying documentation.