Balance of competences review

The Government is carrying out a review of the balance of competences between the EU and the UK. This is an audit of what the EU does and how it affects the UK.

The Food Standards Agency is leading on the Animal Health, Welfare and Food Safety Review in the first semester (autumn 2012 - summer 2013) alongside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

We published our call for evidence on 27 November 2012 (see link top right for details and documents). This includes the following:

  • call for evidence: animal health, welfare and food safety
  • list of EU animal health, welfare and food safety legislation covered by the review
  • an optional response form to help structure your responses

A key question for this review will be whether the benefits to the UK of protecting consumers and the functioning of the internal market justify the high level of EU competence in this area.

As part of the balance of competences review, Defra will also lead on three other reports in which you might be interested. They will be available in due course at the link to the Defra website.

  • environment (spring 2013)
  • agriculture (autumn 2013)
  • fisheries (autumn 2013)

Call for evidence closed

Thank you to everyone who took time to submit evidence. The Animal Health, Welfare and Food Safety (AHWFS) review received over 60 submissions from a wide range of stakeholders both in the UK and in Europe.

The report will be published in Summer 2013, together with the evidence.

You can read more about the review at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office link at the top right of this page.