Commission report on the number of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes in the EU member states (link)

Brussels, 20 Jan 2005

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
FOURTH REPORT ON THE STATISTICS ON THE NUMBER OF ANIMALS USED FOR EXPERIMENTAL AND OTHER SCIENTIFIC PURPOSES IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Full Text

I. INTRODUCTION

The objective of this Report is to present to the Council and to the European Parliament statistics on the number of laboratory animals used in the EU, in accordance with Article 26 of Directive 86/609/EEC of 24 November 1986 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States regarding the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes1.

Three Reports have been published so far:

­ The first Report2, published in 1994, covered data on animals used in the year 1991;

­ The second Report3 was published 1999 and covered the data from 19964;

­ The third Report5 was published in 2003 and covered the data from 1999.

The data in the first Report were quite mixed, since the Directive provides only little detail on the reporting requirements. However, a set of eight statistical standard reporting tables (EU Tables) was agreed between the Commission services and the competent authorities of the Member States during the compilation period of the second Report. A few Member States used these Tables already for their reporting to the second Report.

For the third Report fourteen Member States submitted their data in accordance with the EU Tables, only one Member State used a different format because an amendment regarding data reporting was still needed in the existing federal law.

For the present fourth Report, all fifteen Member States used the agreed EU Tables. Data were collected in 2002 with the exception of one Member State who collected data in 2001.

This Report is accompanied by a "Commission Staff Working Paper - Report on the Statistics on the Number of Animals used for Experimental and other Scientific Purposes in the Member States of the European Union in the year 2002" (SEC (2004) XXX). The Staff Working Paper provides more details and also includes data from the single Member States and their respective comments. However, all conclusions at EU level are fully presented in this Report.

COM(1994) 195 final.
COM(1999) 191 final.
including 1997 data from France.
COM(2003) 19 final.

II. DATA SUBMITTED AND GENERAL ASSESSMENT

II.1. Data submitted by the Member States

For the first time all Member States used the agreed EU Tables to submit their data. Data were collected in 2002, except for France who reported data from 2001.

Member States in most cases applied a quality control check. This check greatly improved the coherence of the data amongst the different Tables.

II.2. General assessment

The main difference with the previous Reports is that the data now cover the complete range of procedures and their purposes. This allows, for the first time, for a more precise and comprehensive picture at EU level.

Brussels, 20.1.2005 COM(2005) 7 final