Legislation on the protection of experimental animals

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to establish the current situation in the field of legislation on the protection of experimental animals in Slovenia. The protection of experimental animals has been regulated by the provisions of the Protection of Animals Act.1 On the basis of this act, the Instructions on Conditions for the Issuing of Authorisations for Experiments on Animals for Scientific and Research Purposes2 and the Rules on the Ethics Commission for Experiments on Animals 3 have been used. The basic protection of experimental animals is provided for by a system of permits for experiments on animals. Permits for experiments on animals are granted by the administrative authorities responsible for veterinary medicine in cases where experiments are urgently required for medical, veterinary medical, or scientific and research purposes and the results are expected to produce important new knowledge, or when the suffering of animals is ethically acceptable in comparison with what the experiment is expected to achieve; where, in cases of basic research, experimental aims cannot be achieved by any other method or procedure, the experiment is performed on the minimum possible number of animals of the lowest neurophysiological sensitivity and a method is used that causes the minimum level of suffering, pain or lasting harm. Staff involved in the execution of experiments or in the care and nursing of animals, the premises for the accommodation or rearing and provision of animals, and the installations and devices used must all comply with the set conditions. With the adoption of the Act, which has been harmonised with EU regulations, legislation on the protection of experimental animals has been put into effect. As laid down by the act1, the implementing regulations will lay down the conditions for the issuing of permits for experiments on animals, the procedure, documentation, records, reports and responsibilities of experts on the protection of animals, and staff and other conditions relating to the execution of experiments and procedures involving animals.