CHAPTER IIIADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO SLAUGHTERHOUSES
Article 17Animal welfare officer
1
Business operators shall designate an animal welfare officer for each slaughterhouse to assist them in ensuring compliance with the rules laid down in this Regulation.
2
The animal welfare officer shall be under the direct authority of the business operator and shall report directly to him or her on matters relating to the welfare of the animals. He or she shall be in a position to require that the slaughterhouse personnel carry out any remedial actions necessary to ensure compliance with the rules laid down in this Regulation.
3
The responsibilities of the animal welfare officer shall be set out in the standard operating procedures of the slaughterhouse and effectively brought to the attention of the personnel concerned.
4
The animal welfare officer shall hold a certificate of competence as referred to in Article 21, issued for all the operations taking place in the slaughterhouses for which he or she is responsible.
5
The animal welfare officer shall keep a record of the action taken to improve animal welfare in the slaughterhouse in which he/she carries out his/her tasks. This record shall be kept for at least one year and shall be made available to the competent authority upon request.
6
Paragraphs 1 to 5 shall not apply to slaughterhouses slaughtering less than 1 000 livestock units of mammals or 150 000 birds or rabbits per year.
For the purpose of the first subparagraph, ‘livestock unit’ means a standard measurement unit that allows the aggregation of the various categories of livestock in order to enable them to be compared.
When applying the first subparagraph, F1the Appropriate Minister shall use the following conversion rates:
a
adult bovine animals F2the live weight of which is more than 300kg and equidae: 1 livestock unit;
b
other bovine animals: 0,50 livestock unit;
c
pigs with a live weight of over 100 kg: 0,20 livestock unit;
d
other pigs: 0,15 livestock unit;
e
sheep and goats: 0,10 livestock unit;
f
lambs, kids and piglets of less than 15 kg live weight: 0,05 livestock unit.