State of play, main conclusions, outlook

The Commission carried out a review of Directive 2010/63/EU on the Protection of Animals used for Scientific Purposes in 2017 and plans to launch an evaluation of the legislation in 2027.

The Directive took full effect in 2013 with national transposing measures pending for some Member States in the beginning of 2015. Due to the relatively early timing of the review and the partly delayed transposition into certain national legislations of the Member States (last national legislation adopted only in May 2015), there was only limited experience of the Directive. It was clear that the Directive's projected benefits, especially in terms of improved welfare and science, had not yet fully materialised. Therefore, the focus of the 2017 review was on assessing the impacts of the Directive on the basis of preliminary findings in selected targeted areas. It is proposed to launch an evaluation of the Directive by 2027 following the 2022 and 2027 Implementation Reports by the Member States and allowing for sufficient practical experience to have been gained on data transparency tools about animal testing.