Laboratory Animals
Public consultation on the revision of Directive 86/609/EEC
on the protection of animals used for experimental and other
scientific purposes
16 June - 18 August 2006
The European Commission held an internet consultation in
the summer of 2006 about the welfare of laboratory animals
and would like to thank all respondents for their valuable
contributions. We especially acknowledge the effort put into
the expert responses taking into account the length of the
document presented for the consultation and certain technical
limitations concerning the data input.
Results
The impact assessment will be completed by the end of 2006,
taking into account the results of the expert consultation.
Following the impact assessment, the replies to this consultation
will further help the Commission in its considerations regarding
a revision of Directive 86/609/EEC, with the aim of improving
animal welfare and the functioning of the internal market
in the field of animal experimentation.
Background
The aims of this consultation were two-fold:
- To provide the Commission with views of the public on the use of
animals in experiments and ways to improve their welfare; and
- To comment on the preliminary findings of the impact assessment
for the revision of the existing legislation for the protection of animals
used in experiments.
The consultation consisted of two separate questionnaires,
one for all interested citizens and one for experts in the
area of animal welfare, animal testing, animal science, natural
sciences (especially biology, medicine, pharmacology and toxicology),
legal and economic affairs related to these areas.
The citizens' questionnaire consisted of multiple choice
questions asking the views of the respondents on different
aspects of animal experimentation and the perception of the
level of animal welfare both at national as well as EU level.
The expert consultation was built around different policy
options for the revision. These were drawn from the input
from the results of the TEWG (Technical
Expert Working Group), and the Opinions by SCAHAW (Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare)
and AHAW
Panel (Animal Health and Animal Welfare). An impact assessment
is evaluating these options and has provided preliminary conclusions
about the related benefits and costs. The expert consultation
presented these preliminary findings to assess their validity.
If a respondent disagreed with the preliminary findings, he
or she was requested to provide further arguments supported
by factual and quantitative data.
Access to original questionnaires
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