In November 2008 the European Commission published its proposal for a new directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes to replace EU Directive 86/609/EEC. The European Parliament adopted its first reading report on the Commission's proposal in May 2009. The Council of Ministers has not yet adopted an agreed position. However, discussions between the Swedish presidency, the Commission and the European Parliament completed in December 2009 made significant progress towards agreement of a common compromise text.
The only provisions remaining to be agreed relate to the arrangements for delegated and implementing acts introduced by articles 290 and 291 of the Lisbon Treaty, the operational details of which are still being negotiated.
Once these provisions are agreed, the way should then be clear for the new Directive to be adopted. Our current expectation is that this will be in the first half of 2010 and that the final implementation date for the measures set out in the new directive, after transposition into UK law, will be 1 January 2013.
We believe the compromise text provides a sound basis for the future regulation of animal research in Europe. The text is more flexible and less prescriptive than the Commission's initial proposal and, overall, provides a regulatory framework which, we believe is balanced and will allow the United Kingdom to maintain high standards of welfare and animal protection after transposition and implementation without the imposition of unnecessary bureaucracy.