This manual presents the participating conditions for livestock owners for the Animal Welfare Initiative for poultry

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1 Agricultural Manual - Poultry Participating conditions - Programme Introduction As part of the Animal Welfare Initiative for poultry Initiative Tierwohl Geflügel companies and associations from agriculture, the meat industry and grocery retail have together made it their objective to promote humane and sustainable meat production. In the future too they want to offer poultry of exceptional quality and great variety whilst at the same time focussing even more on nimal welfare as the foundation of their business. To this end a comprehensive programme has been developed together with participants from the economy, science and other stakeholders to promote animal welfare in poultry production companies (broiler and turkey production). The extra expense incurred by the livestock owners for the implementation of these additional animal welfare criteria is compensated at a flat rate via financial incentives independent of the market price. This manual presents the participating conditions for livestock owners for the Animal Welfare Initiative for poultry (Initiative Tierwohl Geflügel). 2 Participating Conditions for Livestock owners 2.1 Participants, Participation Access to the Animal Welfare Initiative for poultry is open to all poultry companies rearing broilers or turkeys for fattening and who participate in the QS Scheme (with eligibility to deliver in the QS database) or in a comparable quality assurance system recognised by QS. All fattening sheds, which are placed in one location (same address), should participate in the Animal Welfare Initiative. Livestock owner, that are already obligated to implement defined requirements due to regulations contained in animal protection legislation (e.g. European organic regulations, The Order on the Protection of Animals and the Keeping of Production Animals (=Tierschutz-Nutztierhaltungsverordnung)) will not receive animal welfare payments. The participation in the Animal Welfare Initiative is voluntary. 2.2 Registration and Approval Procedure Livestock owners, who decide to participate in the initiative, do so via an agricultural coordinator. The following procedure is in place for registration to participate: a) Livestock owners commission an agricultural coordinator of their choice to handle their registration for the participation in the Animal Welfare Initiative for the programme Together with the commissioning of the coordinator they also provide the following information within the declaration of participation: Page 1 of 7

2 Master data for the company (among others location number (in Germany VVVO number)), production scope, address, company manager, livestock type (for turkeys differentiate between hens and cocks) and stocking density figures, live weight in kg of animals produced per annum. Date from which the stated animal welfare criteria shall be met (implementation date). In the registration phase only those implementation dates shall be included which are between the end of the registration period and the 31 st March After the first registration period in September the implementation date has to be within five month after registration. As of the date stated, livestock owners must have implemented the selected criteria and be able to verify this at any given time as part of an audit. Banking details for the payout of animal welfare payments. Taxation status of the company. b) The agricultural coordinator signs in the livestock owner in the animal welfare database. The relevant data will be forwarded to the clearing house of the operating company and are therefore available for the chosen marketers for the selection procedure. After the selection procedure of the marketers the company of the livestock owner will get approved through the operating company and the coordinator will be informed about the approval of the company. After the first registration period the companies can register continuously. After a selection procedure of the marketer the company can get proposed to the operating company for the approval. c) Until they have successfully passed a programme audit, livestock owner shall not be entitled to receive animal welfare payments for the animals delivered in kg live weight (entitlement effective from audit report release date). Because of the proposal of the marketer, fatteners can also participate in the Animal Welfare Initiative without entitlements of payment. If the fattener gets entitled for payments, this will be determined as follows as of 1 st January 2018: Broiler respectively for a period of 6 month Turkey respectively for a period of 12 month 2.3 Duration and Termination The participation in the Animal Welfare Initiative for poultry is limited to the period of the progamme Ordinary termination requires six months notice to the end of the month. The right to extraordinary termination for important reasons shall remain unaffected. 2.4 Implementation of the requirements, Monitoring, Supervision Implementation of requirements/ programme manual With the declaration of participation the livestock owner agrees to the programme manual of the Animal Welfare Initiative, especially to the Participating Conditions for livestock owner as amended. The requirements of the Animal Welfare Initiative, the Participating Conditions for the livestock owner (Agricultural Manual Poultry Participating Conditions), the Catalogues of Criteria, the Explanatory Notes, the Inspection System and all further documents which are relevant for the implementation of the programme are on Page 2 of 7

3 the website of the Animal Welfare Initiative on as amended. As a whole they constitute the programme manual of the Animal Welfare Initiative and apply to the livestock owner. This programme manual can be further developed and changed by the committees of the operating company. The chosen requirements of the livestock owner nevertheless remain unchanged during the duration of his certificate. This does not apply if circumstances take place, which necessitate the adaption of the programme manual and the requirements of the Animal Welfare Initiative (e.g. incident and crises with negative effects to the reputation of the Animal Welfare Initiative in the public, change of the legal situation). The responsible committees of the Animal Welfare Initiative are regardless of other regulations authorised to carry out these changes during the contract period where the livestock owner gained entitlement. In this case the livestock owner is obligated to implement the adaptions. If he does not want this, he can terminate the participation in the Animal Welfare Initiative extraordinarily Auditing and Control A certification body, which is approved by the operating company and appointed by the coordinator, shall regularly monitor the implementation of the criteria by means of unannounced audits (if applicable prior notice maximum 24 hours). The livestock owner is obliged to prove the implementation of the requirements in a programme audit as of the implementation date he chose. A certification body, commissioned by the coordinator will perform the programme audit. Auditors are authorised to a) document the encountered conditions at the location of the livestock owner, especially concerning the implementation of the requirements of the Animal Welfare Initiative trough taking photos or taking copies of relevant documents. Certification bodies and auditors are authorised to forward the documents to the responsible unit in the Animal Welfare Initiative. Nevertheless the coordinator has to oblige the certification bodies and auditors to the confidential handling of the documents and data of the company. b) see audit reports of the quality assurance scheme/s (QS Scheme or comparable, recognised quality assurance scheme by the operating company), where the livestock owner participates with the location. c) see audit reports of a certification of the EG-Organic Regulation (or other organic programmes building on this), where the livestock owner participates. The refusal of the inspection of the documents, the copy taking or the documentation trough photos can lead to a general K.O. and therefore leads to a loss of entitlement in the Animal Welfare Initiative and to a repayment of already received animal welfare payments. The certification body will confirm the implementation of chosen requirements to the livestock owner after a successful programme audit. After the approval release of the audit report in the database the livestock owner is entitled. The entitlement in the Animal Welfare Initiative is not directly linked to an entitlement of payments. The entitlement of payments will be issued separately. The certification body shall issue a certificate to the livestock owner. The certificate is valid for three years from the audit report approval release date, at the longest until 30 th June The implementation of the documented and certified criteria will then be controlled in each year of the period of the certificate at least once in an unannounced confirmation audit. The operating company is authorised to perform additional audits at the participating company. Page 3 of 7

4 Within the last two month before the end of the certification period a confirmation audit will take place to verify the entitlement of payments. If the participation of a location ends already before the expiry of the three-year certification period, within two weeks after termination a confirmation audit has to take place to verify the entitlement of payments Amendment Options The livestock owner has to implement the requirements that were documented and certified by the certification body during the whole period of the certificate completely and prove the implementation trough audits as specified in the inspection system. The information of contact persons for the audits with specified contact data and times of best reachability will be deposited by the coordinator in order to enable a smooth implementation of the audits. Livestock owners are obligated to immediately inform the certification body responsible for the company as well as the responsible coordinator with regard to any significant operational changes that may have effects on the company s participation and put the continued validity of the certificate in question (such as change of company manager, leasing, expansion of company, or production changes such as conversion of hens and cock fattening for turkey fatteners). The livestock owner s entitlement and, if applicable related entitlement to payments may lapse, if operational changes are not notified and coordinated with the certification body and the coordinator. With the loss of entitlement also the entitlements for payments lapse, then any animal welfare payments received since the last audit must be repaid. Any termination of participation (ordinary or extraordinary) shall not become effective until the implementation of the documented and certified criteria have been confirmed in a final audit. Should this audit proof remain outstanding, all animal welfare payments made after the last audit will have to be repaid. The requirements of the initiative (basic requirements, mandatory requirements) shall be determined in the committee of the Animal Welfare Initiative, which is made up of representatives from agriculture, the meat industry and grocery retail. The responsible committee is authorised to amend or completely remove requirements at its own discretion and shall determine when the amendments become effective. 2.5 Payment of Animal Welfare Payments For the implementation of the documented criteria during the term of the entitlement, the operating company shall pay an animal welfare payment to entitled livestock owners. Livestock owners, who are already obligated to implement a greater amount of available space due regulations contained in animal protection legislation shall not receive animal welfare payments (for example in Germany, pursuant to current legislation, The Order on the Protection of Animals and the Keeping of Production Animals [Tierschutz-Nutztierhaltungsverordnung], or the European Organic Regulations) Payment Dates The individual Animal Welfare Payment determined by the clearing house will be paid to the livestock owner three month past the calendar quarter. Page 4 of 7

5 2.5.2 Amount of Payment Entitlement For the implementation of the documented requirements during the term of the certificate, the operating company shall pay an animal welfare payment to eligible livestock owners. From the 1 st January 2018 the animal welfare payments (netto) amount: 2.75 cents per kilogram live weight for broilers 3.25 cents per kilogram live weight for turkey hens 4.0 cents per kilogram live weight for turkey cocks 2.6 Loss of Entitlement, Sanctions Livestock owners who fail to implement the criteria documented and certified in the programme audit lose their entitlement in the Animal Welfare Initiative and are obligated to return the certificate to the certification body. The entitlement to receive the animal welfare payments shall lapse for the period from the last audit conducted (programme audit, confirmation audit) until the end of the certification term unless the livestock owner can prove that the requirements have been implemented correctly (reversal of the burden of proof). Any animal welfare payments already received are to be paid back to the operating company by the livestock owner. In cases of dispute the sanctions committee within the operating company shall make a decision on the basis of the rules of sanction procedure as published in the programme manual. have to expect the initiation of sanction proceedings due to contravening the initiative requirements. The independent sanctions committee may, in accordance with the rules of sanction procedure, impose programme penalties up to the amount of 100, as well as a pronouncing temporary suspension or permanent exclusion from the initiative. have to expect that in particularly serious cases the operating company shall file criminal charges. The operating company and the body responsible for standards for certified quality assurance shall exchange information relevant to achieving the objectives of this initiative. This applies in particular with regard to information concerning animal welfare violations established in relation to participating livestock owners. 2.7 Critical Events The livestock owner is obligated to inform the coordinator, the operating company and if a legal obligation exist the relevant authorities about critical events. Critical events are incidents that pose a risk to human, animal, environment, assets or the Animal Welfare Initiative as a whole or can be a risk for those. These include in particular a) all deviations of the requirements of the Animal Welfare Initiative, if these deviations endanger the animal welfare and the animal health. b) all criminal and regulatory preliminary proceedings against the livestock owner, if these proceedings are directly or indirectly orientated to the assurance or implementation of the pertinent animal protection determination. c) all media research, critical media reports as well as public protests that have direct or indirect involve questions of animal welfare or animal protection. Page 5 of 7

6 2.8 Criteria By registering livestock owners commit, should they be admitted, to implement the additional requirements of the Animal Welfare Initiative for poultry for the entire duration of their participation within their livestock production (subject to audit from their individual date implementation date specified, at the earliest however from 1 st January 2018). In addition, by registering, the livestock owners commit to allow the respective marketers to pass on the extended findings data to the body appointed by the operating company. Should livestock owner be unable to prove the full implementation of the criteria as part of a programme or confirmation audit, they shall lose their certification as part of the Animal Welfare Initiative for poultry. A repeat of the audit to re-attain certification status is not possible Criteria for Poultry Producing Operations Requirements In addition to participation in the QS Scheme or a similar recognised quality assurance scheme, all of the criteria listed below are included as requirements for the Animal Welfare Initiative. Details can be found in the Agricultural Manual -Catalogue of Criteria - Poultry and supplementary to this in the notes on the criteria. No. Criteria Basic requirements 1.1 QS Basic criteria (Evaluation in accordance with QS-inspection system) 1.2 Procurement of day-old-chicks from QS hatcheries 1.3 Measures to improve the foot pad health 1.4 Instructions for preliminary destocking (only for broilers) 1.5 Proof of annual training of livestock farmer 1.6 Participation in the animal welfare control plan Mandatory Requirements 2.1 Additional activity options 2.2 Bigger space allowances 2.3 Shed Climate Check 2.4 Drinking Water Check Page 6 of 7

7 Gesellschaft zur Forderung des Tierwohls in der Nutztierhaltung mbh (Company for the Promotion of Animal Welfare in Livestock Production Ltd.) CEO: Dr. Alexander Hinrichs Schedestraße Bonn Tel Fax Page 7 of 7