Information about how the use of animals in research is governed in the UK and the European Union.
Regulations set out in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986(opens in a new tab) require every UK researcher who wishes to carry out animal research to have three licences from the Home Office(opens in a new tab).
These are:
Licence applications must show:
European Directive 2010/63/EU(opens in a new tab), which promotes both animal welfare and high-quality scientific research, was adopted in 2010.
The directive became law in the UK on 1 January 2013 through amendments to the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986(opens in a new tab).
We support the directive and have objected to the ‘Stop Vivisection’ initiative [PDF 2.02MB] which called for it to be repealed.
Our FAQs on European Directive 2010/63/EU [PDF 107KB] explain how and why animals are used in research and the legislation which governs this activity.