Animal experiments - Commission takes steps against two Member States
The European Commission has referred the Netherlands to the European Court of Justice and sent a reasoned opinion to Belgium for not respecting fully the European community's animal experiment Directive. The Netherlands' legislation does not cover some key elements of the Directive, such as prohibition of the use of certain endangered species, safeguards on the release of animals and recognition of results from animal experiments in other Member States, designed to avoid duplication of experiments. Although the Netherlands has argued that its model conditions for animal experiment licenses address some of these issues, the Commission has decided to refer the Netherlands to the Court because they are non-binding conditions. The use of dogs and cats not bred for experiments is the crux of the Commission's action against Belgium. Animals especially bred for the purpose of experimentation is the general rule of the European Directive, but it does allow for exemptions. However, it appears that of the exemptions that authorities in Belgium have granted over the last three years, only about 50 per cent of the non-bred animals have been used in experiments. 'While reductions in the anticipated use of non-bred cats and dogs are obviously welcome, the statistics suggest that the Belgian authorities have been too lax in the granting of such exemptions,' says the Commission. 'It also raises questions whether the scientific justifications for such exemptions have been thoroughly examined.' The Belgian authorities have responded indicating a willingness to amend the use of exemptions, but with no concrete results so far. Commenting on the moves, European Environment Commissioner, Margot Wallström, said: 'While Dutch practice seems satisfactory, the Netherlands needs to make a bigger effort to bring its national legislation in line with the Directive. This will give greater assurance that the strict conditions laid down for animal experiments in the Directive are always followed. As regards the Belgian authorities, I would urge them to ensure strict control on the use of exemptions.'
Countries
Netherlands