Experiments on Animals Act
Experiments involving animals are subject to rules. In the Netherlands, the applicable legislation is the Experiments on Animals Act (Wod), which was amended on 18 December 2014. This law is based on European legislation.
In this article
The principle behind the Act is that no experiments should be conducted on animals unless there are good reasons for doing so, and no alternatives are available that would produce the required result without using animals.
The Act describes the following issues:
- which institutions are permitted to raise and breed animals;
- who is permitted to carry out experiments on animals, for which purposes and under which conditions;
- which bodies play a supervisory role, and what are their exact responsibilities in this role;
- the licensing procedure;
- the training and education requirements for employees who are involved in the experiment.
Veterinary advice
All breeders, suppliers or users of laboratory animals must have a veterinarian who is an expert in the field of laboratory animal science, or another qualified specialist in the field of a specific animal species. This person is responsible for providing advice concerning the welfare and treatment of the animal.
Humane endpoints
When planning research involving laboratory animals, researchers must state the circumstances under which an animal should be prematurely removed from the study. In that case, the animal's discomfort will be actively discontinued or reduced, by means such as euthanasia, the termination of the procedure or pain relieving medication. These circumstances are referred to as 'humane endpoints'.
Non-technical summary
Every licence application for a research project involving experiments on animals must include a non-technical summary (NTS) in Dutch. This states the research objectives and a justification for the use of animals, including the expected negative effects on the animals' welfare and the application of the 3R's (replacement, reduction and refinement).
The NTS must be written in layman's terms, so that it can be understood by a wide audience. The Central Authority for Scientific Procedures on Animals (CCD) will publish the summary without mentioning any names. In this way, the use of laboratory animals in the Netherlands can be made transparent without breaching intellectual property rights or privacy. Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht voluntarily choose to publish licences in full, including project descriptions.