§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the enforcement of European Union legislation in the UK regarding animal experimentation. [112692]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienIt is the role of the European Commission to enforce Community legislation in the sense that full transposition into national law is required for a Council Directive.
Directive 86/609/EEC—on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the member states regarding the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes—is transposed and implemented in the United Kingdom through the rigorous controls of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
The domestic legislation was last amended in July 1998 (for enactment on 5 September 1998) when several requirements of the Directive, which had previously been enacted through administrative provisions, were placed on the face of the 1986 Act.