Today, following a request from the European Commission, the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (SCHEER) provided a Preliminary Opinion on the revision of Annexes III and IV of Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

This Opinion evaluates key accommodation conditions to maintain the welfare of zebrafish being kept in captivity for scientific purposes as well as killing methods for these fish. Housing requirements for maintaining the welfare of several Passerine bird species kept in captivity were also evaluated.

To address the terms of reference of this Opinion and answer the questions posed in the mandate, the SCHEER looked at current practices at various European scientific institutes in addition to searching the limited available literature on these topics. The SCHEER also relies on its Memorandum on Weight of Evidence (WoE) for scientific guidance.

Interested parties are invited to submit their comments on the scientific evidence online by 12 June 2023.

For more information on the work of the Commission's independent scientific committees: Scientific Committees (europa.eu)

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