Netherlands to place restrictions on kosher and halal ritual slaughter

The Netherlands is set to place restrictions on the ritual slaughter of animals, the government announced on Wednesday, which will include banning the export of kosher and halal meet, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports.

Under the new rules, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority will now "oversee compliance with legal requirements to animal welfare," a letter to the lower house of the Dutch parliament regarding the changes said.

The authority last year tried to have kosher and halal slaughter banned entirely on grounds that it was inhumane.

The costs of the authority's activity to oversee ritual slaughter will be borne by the slaughterhouse.

The Dutch government and Jewish and Muslim leaders set an agreement on ritual slaughter four years ago, whereby certain mandatory measures would be adhered to — including a 40-second maximum time between the animal being stunned and their throat being cut, the JTA reports.

The agreement was signed after the Dutch senate in 2012 lifted a law from the previous year that had banned all slaughter without stunning. This effectively made ritual slaughter illegal, as Jewish and Muslim religious laws demand that animals be conscious when they are slaughtered.

In 2014, Poland temporarily banned ritual slaughter, before overturning the law after 10 months.