About the ban

History in the making

In the European Union (EU) there are approximately 333 million egg laying hens in commercial flocks. These hens are kept in a variety of systems ranging from free range and organic, to caged systems such as enriched and barren.

In 1999 the EU agreed a Directive on Laying Hens (1999/74/EC) that resulted in the banning of the most inhumane of these systems, the barren battery cage. The EU allowed producers a 12 year phase-out period, bringing the ban into effect on 1 January 2012.

A major step forward

The barren battery cage ban is a tremendous victory for animal welfare.

Directly impacting on the lives of hundreds of millions of hens, a vigorous campaign by Compassion in World Farming and other animal welfare organisations, helped ensure the ban was successfully defended, in the face of strong opposition from producers and a number of EU member states.

The impact of the barren battery cage ban is huge and far-reaching – around 250 million hens have benefited since it was agreed in 1999.

The Future

Despite the incredible step forward with the outlawing of the barren battery cage, not all egg producers were ready on time for the ban.

European Commission estimates show that around 47 million hens were still in illegal barren battery cages on 1 January 2012. This represents around 14% of the total European commercial hen flock.

Compassion in World Farming’s The Big Move campaign will continue to keep up the pressure on those nations containing egg producers not compliant with the ban. With rigorous enforcement and a concerted political effort the end of the barren battery cage is in sight.