Find below the third issue of Animal Law Europe’s newsletter, which covers July – September 2021.
Welcome to our third quarterly newsletter!
This is a free newsletter, and we hope to keep it that way. You can support this project by forwarding it, shouting about it, and giving credit to Animal Law Europe whenever possible!
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Research Brief
This quarter’s research note is about “Animals in EU Agricultural Policy,” as the European Parliament is slated to adopt the reform of EU’s agricultural policy, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This research note explores the different measures in the CAP that improves the enforcement of animal welfare regulations, and the subsidies supporting and undermining animal protection.
Coming Up!
Animal Law Europe founder Alice Di Concetto will be speaking at a series of events this month, most of which are free and online. More information can be found in the news section of Animal Law Europe’s website, on Animal Law Europe’s Twitter feed, and in the events section below.
Special news
Alice Di Concetto has been named a “Global Ambassador” for animal law by Lewis & Clark Law School’s Center for Animal Law Studies. This prestigious distinction includes a generous grant which will allow this newsletter to remain free, in addition to funding other exciting projects.
Alice was also quoted in a recent Vox article entitled “The worst horrors of factory farming could soon be phased out in Europe.”
And finally, sign up for the launch event of the Coller Animal Law Forum (CALF), a global database of laws and policies that impact farmed animals. By categorizing and analyzing numerous legal instruments that contribute to the phasing out of industrial farm animal production, CALF is sure to be an essential resource for policymakers, parliamentarians, academics and advocates. Animal Law Europe is proud to have collaborated with the Jeremy Coller Foundation in the building of this important database.
1. Animal Law News
European Union
Member States
- The Netherlands – Aquatic Animals and Fur Animals: Amsterdam’s City Council issued a ban on the sale of live crabs, live lobsters, and fur in all of the city’s retail points of sale. The prohibition will enter into force in 2022.
- Spain – Wildlife (wolf): In an executive order reviewed by the Council of State, the highest administrative court in the country, the Spanish government amended its list of protected species to include wolves. This executive order entered into force in September. The new legal status as a protected species has afford wolves higher levels of protection from human activities, most notably the prohibition on wolf hunting, including by ranchers.
- Belgium – Farm animals (slaughter): In two rulings, the Constitutional Belgian Court dismissed two appeals filed by Muslim and Jewish communities. The faith groups challenged newly adopted laws which prohibit the religious practice of slaughter without stunning in two of the biggest regions in the country, Flanders and Wallonia. This rejection followed a 2020 preliminary ruling by the European Court of Justice. In this ruling, the European Court of Justice decided that it was lawful, under EU law, for Member States not to provide a religious exemption to the requirement of stunning animals before slaughter.
Global Animal Law News
- Argentina prohibited intensive salmon farming: The Legislature of Argentina’s Southernmost province, Tierra del Fuego, adopted a law banning salmon farming in open-net pens on the grounds of the significant economic and environmental risks this intensive farming method poses. Open-net pens essentially operate like floating cages and adversely impact the welfare of animals and ecosystems. This bill had the effect of halting a farming project in the Beagle Channel, as well as banning this practice in all of Argentina, since the ban covers the geographical areas (Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica, and the South Atlantic Islands) where the farming of salmon occurs.
- Colombia reinforced penalties for wildlife trafficking violations.
- India: Delhi’s High Court ruled that residents have the right to feed stray dogs.
- Mexico banned animal testing for cosmetics: The Mexican Legislature amended its General Public Health Law (Ley de Salud General) to ban animal testing of cosmetics in early September of this year. The amendment further establishes a marketing ban on animal testing for finished cosmetics. With this law, Mexico becomes the first country in North America to ban animal testing for cosmetics, and the second in Latin America – after Guatemala.
2. Events
2.1. Law & Policy
All events are Central European Time (CET).
- Animal personhood: Tercero Encuentro Nacional e Internacional sobre los derechos de los animals no humano | October 6 – 7, 10PM – 12AM | Online, free, open to the public, in Spanish | Registration
- The Future of Animal Rights: Reflections from the University / El Futuro de los Derechos Animales: Reflexiones Desde la Universidad | October 7, 12PM – 8PM | In person, with livestream, free, open to the public, in Spanish and English | Registration
- “Advocates for Animals Talks to…” Alice Di Concetto from Animal Law Europe | October 12, 8PM | Online, free, and open to the public | Registration
- EU Agri’s Outlook Conference | December 9 – 10 | Registration to be announced here
2.2. Academia
- Sustainability and Animal Law
October 8 | 6PM | Free, online, open to the public | Connect here - NYU Center for Animal & Environmental Studies invites Prof. Pamela Frasch
Crossing Boundaries: The Critical Need for Global Animal Law Education
October 8 | 8PM | Free, online, open to the public | Registration - International Conference on Animal Dignity
October 8 – 9 | University of Antwerp, upon registration | Program and Registration - Animal Law Conference
October 15 – 17 | Online, open to the public, $75 – $175 | Registration - NYU Center for Animal & Environmental Studies
Towards Plant-Based Forward Diets: A Toolkit for Local Leadership
October 15 | 7PM | Free, online, open to the public | Registration - Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights
Jessica Eisen, Animal Legal Subjectivity: Emerging Models, Enduring Problems | October 21, 6 – 7:30PM | Free, online, open to the public | Registration
2.3. Nonprofits
- Jeremy Coller Foundation’s Coller Animal Law Forum Launch Event
October 14 | 5PM | Free, online, and open to the public | Registration
3. Publications
- The European Fisheries Control Agency has published its 2020 Year in Review report.
- The European Food Safety Authority has published an assessment of animal diseases caused by antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in pork production.
3.2. Academia
- Charlotte Blattner, Global Migration Crises: Nonhuman Animals, and the Role of Law in Like an Animal: Critical Animal Studies Approaches to Borders, Displacement, and Othering, Nathalie Khazaal and Núria Almiron (eds.), Brill.
- Alice Di Concetto and Marie Friant-Perrot, Le bien-être animal et l’information des consommateurs, Revue de l’Union européenne (Dalloz)(in French).
- Julia Fentem et al., Upholding the EU’s Commitment to “Animal Testing as a Last Resort” Under REACH Requires a Paradigm Shift in How We Assess Chemical Safety to Close the Gap Between Regulatory Testing and Modern Safety Science, Alternatives to Laboratory Animals.
- Yumiko Nakanishi, Case C-336/19 Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België: Animal Welfare and Freedom of Religion, Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law.
- Katie Sykes, Animal Welfare and International Trade Law, Edward Elgar Publishing.
New scientific journal: Animal Ethics Review by the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona.
3.3. Nonprofit
- Animals’ Angels, 100 Reasons to Revise Council Regulation EC1/2005 on the Protection of Animals during Transport.
- Peter Lanius and Lynn Johnson, Modernising CITES, A Blueprint for Better Trade Regulation, Nature Needs More.
4. Job Postings
- The Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School (Portland, USA) is looking for a director for its Animal Law Litigation Clinic.
- The European Vegetarian Union is looking for a Head of Advocacy.
- The Good Food Institute Europe is looking for a Policy Manager.
- For French residents, the Animal Law Foundation (Fondation Droit Animal, Ethique & Sciences) is looking for an intern through the “service civique” program.
