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Directive 1999/74/EC

Directive 1999/74/EC is legislation passed by the European Union on the minimum standards for keeping egg laying hens which effectively bans conventional battery cages. The directive, passed in 1999, banned conventional battery cages in the EU from 1 January 2012 after a 13-year phase-out. Battery cages were already banned in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden prior to 2012. The directive does not apply to establishments with fewer than 350 laying hens or establishments rearing breeding laying hens. Such establishments are, however, subject to the requirements of Directive 98/58/EC. The directive is not supported with fines, penalties or export bans.

Compliance beyond January 2012
It is clear that beyond the date of the law coming into effect, many hens are still being housed in battery cages. European Commission figures show that more than 47 million hens are still (January 2012) in conventional battery cages across the EU, representing 14.3% of production, although it has been reported this figure might be as high as 23% of EU egg production – equivalent to 84 million hens laying 70 million eggs a day. 15 EU states reported to the EU's Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health that they had non-compliant producers. These states were Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, UK, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Romania. Some of these countries, such as Italy and Belgium, admit to having 30% of illegal production. In the UK, there are approximately 31 million egg laying hens. Over £400 million has been spent to meet the standards. In January 2012, reports stated that figures from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) indicate 423,000 hens on 32 farms in the UK were still being housed in battery cages. This represents a non-compliance rate of 1%. ==References==
Source: Wikipedia ↗
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