Council Directive 2007/43/ECShow full title

Article 2 Definitions

1. For the purpose of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘owner’ means any natural or legal person or persons owning the holding where chickens are kept;

(b) ‘keeper’ means any natural or legal person responsible for or in charge of chickens in terms of contract or by law whether on a permanent or temporary basis;

(c) ‘competent authority’ means the central authority of a Member State competent to carry out animal welfare, veterinary and zootechnical checks or any other authority to which that competence has been conferred either at regional, local or other level;

(d) ‘official veterinarian’ means a veterinarian qualified in accordance with Annex I, Section III, Chapter IV(A) to Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 to act in such a capacity and appointed by the competent authority;

(e) ‘chicken’ means an animal of the species Gallus gallus kept for meat production;

(f) ‘holding’ means a production site on which chickens are kept;

(g) ‘house’ means a building on a holding where a flock of chickens are kept;

(h) ‘useable area’ means a littered area accessible to the chickens at any time;

(i) ‘stocking density’ means the total live weight of chickens which are present in a house at the same time per square metre of useable area;

(j) ‘flock’ means a group of chickens which are placed in a house of a holding and are present in this house at the same time;

(k) ‘daily mortality rate’ means the number of chickens which have died in a house on the same day including those that have been culled either for disease or because of other reasons divided by the number of chickens present in the house on that day, multiplied by 100;

(l) ‘cumulative daily mortality rate’ means the sum of daily mortality rates.

2. The definition of ‘useable area’ in paragraph 1 point (h) with regard to non-littered areas may be completed in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 11 following the results of a scientific opinion of the European Food Safety Authority on the impact of non-littered areas on the welfare of chickens.