Germany to reform Animal Protection Law following complaint by EC

Following a complaint from the European Commission, the Federal Government of Germany has announced to the Commission that it will reform the German Animal Protection Law, according to an article in the newspaper "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung". This action is necessary to avert referral to the European Court of Justice. The Commission had initiated treaty violation procedures by sending a letter of formal notice in July 2018. It had critisized that more than 20 Articles and also Annexes of Directive 2010/63 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes had not been fully translated into national law. For example, the Directive requires that only primates born in capitivity can be used for experiments. This was not transposed fully into German law according to Brussels. Although Berlin had initially rejected the criticism, it has now conceded that some of the stipulations had not been transposed in sufficiently clear language. First drafts of a reformed law and by-law were included in the letter to Brussels according to the report.

The Commission has also sent a letter of formal notice to Poland in July 2019 with regard to shortcomings in the enactment of 19 articles and three Annexes to the Directive 2010/63.