Dear member
WE HAVE JUST WON OUR FIRST DECISIVE VICTORY IN OUR FIGHT FOR LIVESTOCK FARMING! ….
We want to share it with you because it’s YOUR victory!
The public authorities have made their decisions concerning the decree implementing the law of 30 November 2021 and the amendments to the decree of 8 October 2018.
The commitment made by the biodiversity adviser with whom we met on 17 October has been honoured!
The request made by Unicab, the only player in the farmers’ camp on this issue, has been met, since the Order of 8 October 2018 will be amended but its initial provisions will be strengthened.
To put it plainly, the list of species that private individuals (i.e. non-professionals) will be entitled to keep and breed will be made up of columns a, b and c of the table in appendix 2, under the conditions of the initial decree (a: unrestricted keeping, b: declaration of keeping, c: certificate of competence and authorisation to open an establishment) to the exclusion of invasive exotic species and dangerous species, the keeping of which will be reserved for professionals.
It is therefore NOT A POSITIVE LIST, in the sense of readability, but it is still easy to identify the species “prohibited to private individuals and hobby breeders” by the orders of 14 February 2018 (Invasive Alien Species) and 21 November 1997 (dangerous species or species presumed to be dangerous).
The “amateur” certificate of competence is therefore maintained for the vast majority of species.
Our ability to get things moving has thus been demonstrated, and everyone can now judge for themselves.
Nevertheless, a number of difficulties remain, and we regret that this work has not been an opportunity to question the regulatory system as a whole.
* the issue of quotas has still not been addressed, and it is to be feared that the 2018 Order will not be amended again in this direction any time soon.
* the list of varieties recognised as domestic has not been revised either
* the new provisions introduce difficulties for certain invasive exotic species that are commonly kept (collared parakeets, wallabies), provisions that are contrary to European law (hindrance to the free movement of goods and trade) and an aberrant way of dealing with this issue
*the necessary revision of columns a, b and c (which date back to 2004 for certain species) has not been taken into account, with no regard for conservation issues.
* the keeping of dangerous species will be reserved for professional bodies (amateur keepers of these species will nevertheless be able to keep them until they die, without the possibility of reproduction), even if we are promised arrangements for certain non-professional bodies such as the BSA (anti-venomous serum bank)
* the taxonomic errors that we pointed out in the initial texts have still not been corrected, ridiculousness never kills
* new approximations in the text, particularly in the definition of the concept of professional breeding, confusing profitability with essential budgetary balances
* a related important issue: the management of the IFAP by the SAPV company, whose contract was due to expire on 15 November, has been renewed for a further 8 months in its initial form … even though we had proposed a new set of specifications, based on our complaints about the current blatant malfunctions
The public authorities have said that they are aware of these difficulties and are ready to continue working with us on these issues, part of which could be dealt with by means of a circular following work in focus groups, which should begin in December (2023…..)
After public consultation, the decree should be published at the very beginning of the year BUT even if
welcome some of the proposals, we remain extremely mobilised with regard to our objections.
So there’s no room for triumphalism, since this stage has not improved the way our passion is treated, but simply prevented the situation from worsening as a result of a deadly prohibition.
The status quo is a more-than-appreciable result given the situation we started from just over a year ago: the proliferation of extremely restrictive positive lists in several European countries, the pressure exerted by animal rights activists and a French plan to abolish the acquired rights of the certificat de capacité d’élevage non professionnel (certificate of competence in non-professional breeding) and to set in motion a gradual general ban.
We owe this result to your commitment, to those who believed in our analyses and proposals, who joined and donated to Unicab, enabling us to consolidate our representative status and equip ourselves with the necessary legal, communication and lobbying resources. So it’s a collective victory!
There are still many unresolved issues, and when it comes to appealing on the many points that remain negative, “we must stop at nothing”, in the words of our lawyer..
As long as the decree has not been published in the Journal Officiel, everything remains open to change. In fact, it is in the spirit of the democratic process to wait for the conclusions of the public consultation (to which each and every one of you will have to contribute) before freezing the final version of the text.
For our part, we are not content with what we consider to be a step in the right direction, by ceasing to reduce ever further the rights of citizens, particularly those who assume their duties to preserve biodiversity.
We now need to gain recognition for our essential conservation role, and support/facilitate our responsible commitments to sharing knowledge that will help maintain populations of endangered species.
We therefore remain fully mobilised to continue to improve this decree and, if we are not heard further, to implement any legal recourse available to us.
The battle has only just begun.
We are finalising the creation of a forum reserved for our members on the unicab-asso.org website
This will make it easier for you to exchange views with other members and with the Board of Directors.
For the time being, we thank you for your support and are delighted to have been able to honour your trust.
The UNICAB team.