Today, the Commission has adopted a Decision designating the fourth European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, which will specialise in the welfare of aquatic animals.

The Reference Centre for the welfare of aquatic animals has been designated following a public selection process. It will be run by a Consortium led by the University of Crete (Greece), and also composed of the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Parasitology (Czechia) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain).

EU Reference Centres for animal welfare are established to assist EU countries in their official controls on animal welfare rules in farms, during transport and at the time of slaughter or killing. The 3 existing EU reference centres for animal welfare cover pigs, poultry and other small-farmed animals, as well as ruminants and equines.

Improving the welfare of aquatic animals, particularly in farms, during transport and at the time of killing, is an important part of the Commission’s animal welfare agenda. The new EU Reference Centre will contribute to ensuring that EU rules in this area are respected.

It will support the activities of the Commission and Member States by carrying out scientific and technical studies, as well as conducting training courses and disseminating research findings and information on technical innovations.

Reference Centres are foreseen under the Official Controls Regulation, adopted in March 2017, which harmonises EU rules on official controls along the whole agri-food chain, including in relation to animal welfare rules.

More information on the animal welfare in the EU