Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986
| Year | 1986 |
Animals (ScientificProcedures) Act 1986
1986 CHAPTER 14
An Act to make new provision for the protection of animals used for experimental or other scientific purposes.
[20th May 1986]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Preliminary
1 Protected animals.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, ‘a protected animal’ for the purposes of this Act means any living vertebrate other than man.
(2) Any such vertebrate in its foetal, larval or embryonic form is a protected animal only from the stage of its development when—
(a ) in the case of a mammal, bird or reptile, half the gestation or incubation period for the relevant species has elapsed; and
(b ) in any other case, it becomes capable of independent feeding.
(3) The Secretary of State may by order—
(a ) extend the definition of protected animal so as to include invertebrates of any description;
(b ) alter the stage of development specified in subsection (2) above;
(c ) make provision in lieu of subsection (2) above as respects any animal which becomes a protected animal by virtue of an order under paragraph (a ) above.
(4) For the purposes of this section an animal shall be regarded as continuing to live until the permanent cessation of circulation or the destruction of its brain.
(5) In this section ‘vertebrate’ means any animal of the Sub-phylum Vertebrata of the Phylum Chordata and ‘invertebrate’ means any animal not of that Sub-phylum.
2 Regulated procedures.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, ‘a regulated procedure’ for the purposes of this Act means any experimental or other scientific procedure applied to a protected animal which may have the effect of causing that animal pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm.
(2) An experimental or other scientific procedure applied to an animal is also a regulated procedure if—
(a ) it is part of a series or combination of such procedures (whether the same or different) applied to the same animal; and
(b ) the series or combination may have the effect mentioned in subsection (1) above; and
(c ) the animal is a protected animal throughout the series or combination or in the course of it attains the stage of its development when it becomes such an animal.
(3) Anything done for the purpose of, or liable to result in, the birth or hatching of a protected animal is also a regulated procedure if it may as respects that animal have the effect mentioned in subsection (1) above.
(4) In determining whether any procedure may have the effect mentioned in subsection (1) above the use of an anaesthetic or analgesic, decerebration and any other procedure for rendering an animal insentient shall be disregarded; and the administration of an anaesthetic or analgesic to a protected animal, or decerebration or any other such procedure applied to such an animal, for the purposes of any experimental or other scientific procedure shall itself be a regulated procedure.
(5) The ringing, tagging or marking of an animal, or the application of any other humane procedure for the sole purpose of enabling an animal to be identified, is not a regulated procedure if it causes only momentary pain or distress and no lasting harm.
(6) The administration of any substance or article to an animal by way of a medicinal test on animals as defined in subsection (6) of section 32 of the Medicines Act 1968 is not a regulated procedure if the substance or article is administered in accordance with the provisions of subsection (4) of that section or of an order under section 35(8)(b ) of that Act.
(7) Killing a protected animal is a regulated procedure only if it is killed for experimental or other scientific use, the place where it is killed is a designated establishment and the method employed is not one appropriate to the animal under Schedule 1 to this Act.
(8) In this section references to a scientific procedure do not include references to any recognised veterinary, agricultural or animal husbandry practice.
(9) Schedule 1 to this Act may be amended by orders made by the Secretary of State.
Personal and project licences
3 Prohibition of unlicensed procedures.
3. No person shall apply a regulated procedure to an animal unless—
4 Personal licences.
(1) A personal licence is a licence granted by the Secretary of State qualifying the holder to apply specified regulated procedures to animals of specified descriptions at a specified place or specified places.
(2) An application for a personal licence shall be made to the Secretary of State in such form and shall be supported by such information as he may reasonably require.
(3) Except where the Secretary of State dispenses with the requirements of this subsection any such application shall be endorsed by a person who—
(a ) is himself the holder of a personal licence or a licence treated as such a licence by virtue of Schedule 4 to this Act; and
(b ) has knowledge of the biological or other relevant qualifications and of the training, experience and character of the applicant;
and the person endorsing an application shall, if practicable, be a person occupying a position of authority at a place where the applicant is to be authorised by the licence to carry out the procedures specified in it.
(4) No personal licence shall be granted to a person under the age of eighteen.
(5) A personal licence shall continue in force until revoked but the Secretary of State shall review each personal licence granted by him at intervals not exceeding live years and may for that purpose require the holder to furnish him with such information as he may reasonably require.
5 Project licences.
(1) A project licence is a licence granted by the Secretary of State specifying a programme of work and authorising the application, as part of that programme, of specified regulated procedures to animals of specified descriptions at a specified place or specified places.
(2) A project licence shall not be granted except to a person who undertakes overall responsibility for the programme to be specified in the licence.
(3) A project licence shall not be granted for any programme unless the Secretary of State is satisfied that it is undertaken for one or more of the following purposes—
(a ) the prevention (whether by the testing of any product or otherwise) or the diagnosis or treatment of disease, ill-health or abnormality, or their effects, in man, animals or plants;
(b ) the assessment, detection, regulation or modification of physiological conditions in man, animals or plants;
(c ) the protection of the natural environment in the interests of the health or welfare of man or animals;
(d ) the advancement of knowledge in biological or behavioural sciences;
(e ) education or training otherwise than in primary or secondary schools;
(f ) forensic enquiries;
(g ) the breeding of animals for experimental or other scientific use.
(4) In determining whether and on what terms to grant a project licence the Secretary of State shall weigh the likely adverse effects on the animals concerned against the benefit likely to accrue as a result of the programme to be specified in the licence.
(5) The Secretary of State shall not grant a project licence unless he is satisfied that the applicant has given adequate consideration to the feasibility of achieving the purpose of the programme to be specified in the licence by means not involving the use of protected animals.
(6) The Secretary of State shall not grant a project licence authorising the use of cats, dogs, primates or equidae unless he is satisfied that animals of no other species are suitable for the purposes of the programme to be specified in the licence or that it is not practicable to obtain animals of any other species that are suitable for those purposes.
(7) Unless revoked and subject to subsection (8) below, a project licence shall continue in force for such period as is specified in the licence and may be renewed for further periods but (without prejudice to the grant of a new licence in respect of the programme in question) no such licence shall be in force for more than five years in all.
(8) A project licence shall terminate on the death of the holder but if—
(a ) the holder of a certificate under section 6 below in respect of a place specified...
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