We don’t feel we are being heard when we submit consultation responses, and the opaque fees just keep rising, says Chairman of Danish Pig Producers, Jeppe Bloch Nielsen, who is instead placing his faith in two fee cases against the agency, in which the association is involved.
It is disheartening that the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration continues to raise fees indefinitely.
So says Jeppe Bloch Nielsen, Chairman of Danish Pig Producers.
The statement comes as a reaction to the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration’s latest payment order, which came into force on 1 July, and where a number of fees for the control of livestock have once again taken a major leap upwards.
52-542 percent increase since 2018
According to the organisation SamMark, the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration’s various fees relating to livestock have increased in the order of 52-542 percent since 2018.
It appears, among other things, from the consultation on the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration’s latest revised payment order, that since the previous adjustment of the order in January this year, as of 1 July, there are double-digit percentage increases in fees for the agency’s control of livestock. For example, fees alone for »authorisation, approval, registration, certification, supervision or control, etc. in connection with live animals« according to section 8 of the order have increased by 24 percent since January.
Jeppe Bloch-Nielsen is dissatisfied that the agency is raising fees indefinitely, regardless of the objections that are submitted:
We don’t feel we are being heard, Jeppe Bloch Nielsen regrets.
Lack of transparency
The chairman finds it particularly worrying that there is not sufficient transparency in the calculation of the fees. That is, what the underlying items consist of.
We find that the agency is keeping its cards close to its chest, he says, and in terms of legal certainty he finds it deeply worrying:
It is obviously an unequal battle to write a sufficiently weighty consultation response when you do not have the opportunity to know what is included in the various fees, he points out.
Does the agency include potted plants, canteen operations and fruit arrangements for the employees, or what is included? It is not acceptable that this is not clear, he says, and therefore he places his faith in two cases that the association is currently running against the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration.
Taking legal action against the agency
Jeppe Bloch Nielsen explains that it may take several years before the cases are concluded, but he believes that it is »unfortunately« necessary, as the association sees it as the only way to get rid of the high fees.
If we win the two cases, some fees will disappear or be reduced, and we have to put our faith in that. Unfortunately, that is the only handle we can pull when the agency does not listen to the objections.
The two cases that Jeppe Bloch-Nielsen mentions are two so-called »fee cases«.
Regarding this, the association’s lawyer Hans Sønderby Christensen, Sønderby Legal, explains that one of the two cases is precisely about verifying whether the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration includes expenses in their fees that they are not entitled to according to EU law.
Lawyer assesses violation of EU law
According to EU law, they may only include the direct costs associated with the agency’s control. That is, the veterinarian’s salary for the time he inspects the animals, the veterinarian’s transport, etc., while, for example, they may not include canteen operations and employees’ fruit arrangements, just to name a few examples, explains the lawyer, who confirms that it is unfortunately difficult to achieve full transparency in the underlying items for the calculation of the fees.
The other case, which Jeppe Bloch-Nielsen puts his faith in, is the fee case where the association claims that the expensive, state veterinary control of pigs for export is in violation of EU law, because it hinders the free movement of goods within the EU.
According to lawyer Hans Sønderby, the free movement of goods is a cornerstone of the EU’s internal market and EU law.
Trade barrier?
The chairman elaborates that he finds it thought-provoking that the transport of piglets between Danish farmers is not subject to the same veterinary control as the export of piglets, and where the fees for the control of export pigs have grown in recent years. He also finds it paradoxical that the control that takes place of Danish slaughter pigs to the slaughterhouses is charged at a lower rate than the control of piglets for export.
How can it be more expensive to control piglets than slaughter pigs? Does one veterinarian get a higher salary than the other? It doesn’t make sense. Therefore, I unfortunately believe that the difference is rather due to a desire to throw a spanner in the works for the export of piglets.
Therefore, our fee cases are very, very important in relation to ensuring Danish farmers’ legal position and to ensure that we are not put in a worse position than our colleagues in the EU, he states.
Read the article here: Effektivt Landbrug 2 August 2023
