End the Cage Age ECI

In September 2018, Compassion launched the End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to end the use of cages in animal farming in the European Union (EU). The Initiative was supported by 170 NGOs from different sectors. In one year, 1.4 million EU citizens signed the petition, turning the End the Cage Age ECI into:

the sixth ECI to succeed out of 84 registered initiatives in the first eight years of the process
the ECI with the third highest signature count
the first valid ECI for farmed animal welfare.

In June 2021, the European Commission made a historic decision by committing to phasing out cages in animal farming across the EU.

The Commission planned to ban cages for hens, sows, calves, rabbits, ducks, geese and other farm animals mentioned in our initiative, considering a possible date for phasing out cage farming in 2027.

In March 2024, the Citizens’ Committee of the ECI launched a legal action Landmark EU Legal Action Launched on Cage Ban against the European Commission. The case – spearheaded by Compassion – was the first to hold the Commission to account over its failure to act on an ECI it has committed to deliver.