February 2025 Newsletter – A Look at the Year Ahead
Welcome to the February edition of the European Institute for Animal Law & Policy's newsletter!
Greetings to our readers in Europe and around the world,
It’s early in the year, but we already have a full slate of commitments and goals for 2025. Key factors in shaping our strategy will be the publication of the European Commission’s work program, set to be released on February 11th, and the Commission’s Vision on Agriculture and Food, which will be presented on the 19th. These two documents will outline the policy actions the EU plans to take over the next four years.
Ahead of this announcement, we have also been pressuring the Commission to make animal issues a top priority in the coming term. Our efforts include partnering with 130 EU-based sustainability and health organizations to deliver an open letter to the Commission, calling for an EU Action Plan for Plant-Based Food.
We will keep you informed in the months ahead about what the Commission’s work program will entail for animals in the coming term.
In this edition of the newsletter:
Updates from the Institute
Research Note: The Treatment of Farmed Fish Under EU Law
Policy Update: Cats and Dogs Legislation Poised to Enter EU Law
Animal Law News
EU
Member States
International Law
Events
Professional Opportunities
Publications
Updates from the Institute
We are delighted to announce that a new colleague has joined our team! In January, the Institute welcomed Vienna Leigh as our new communications specialist. A British/Belgian national living in Spain, Vienna brings more than 20 years of experience in publishing, journalism, and science communications, along with a lifelong passion for animals.
Research Note
This quarter’s research note is on the topic of “The Treatment of Farmed Fish Under EU Law.”
This note was published in collaboration with Ethical Seafood Research, co-authored by Alice Di Concetto (The European Institute for Animal Law & Policy), Anatole Poinsot, (The European Institute for Animal Law & Policy), Wasseem Emam (Ethical Seafood Research), and Carlos Vera (Ethical Seafood Research).
Policy Update: Cats and Dogs Legislation Poised to Enter EU Law
In 2023, as part of the revision of EU animal welfare legislation, the European Commission published a Proposal for a new Regulation on the Welfare of Dogs and Cats and their Traceability. This proposal was unexpected at the time, since the Commission had initially limited the scope of the revision to farm animals. However, as it became clearer that the Commission would no longer follow through with its commitment, the proposal for new legislation on the welfare of cats and dogs came as a welcome step forward.
More Than a Consolation Prize: An Extension of the EU’s Legal and Policy Action to Companion Animals
The publication of this proposal is more than a consolation prize in the wake of the EU’s failure to deliver on farm animal welfare legislation. It is groundbreaking because, for the first time, the EU has put forth a legislative proposal specifically on the welfare of companion animals. Before 2023, the EU had been reluctant to enact laws on cats and dogs, viewing this topic as outside the remit of its competence. The Commission had argued this point in 2014 when rejecting a European Citizens’ Initiative that asked, among other things, for the adoption of an EU law to protect stray cats and dogs.
As a result, to date, EU legislation has primarily dealt with companion animals as vectors of disease (in animal health regulations) or as commodities (in transport legislation). One notable exception was the adoption of a law prohibiting the sale of cat and dog fur in 2007, on the grounds that citizens considered cats and dogs to be “pet animals and therefore it is not acceptable to use their fur or products containing such fur.” That was when the EU appeared unafraid to protect its market against cruel imports on purely moral grounds.
Even though the Commission is ostensibly limited to its competence of regulating the internal market (specifically: the trade of cats and dogs), this new regulation will contribute to protecting all cats and dogs by requiring their systematic identification and registration, which in the long term will also benefit strays. When adopted, this legislation will also, for the first time in the history of EU law, establish animal welfare standards for breeders of cats and dogs and strengthen regulations to reduce illegal trafficking.
Next Steps in the Legislative Process
This proposed legislation has now reached the amendment stage, where Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) submit proposed changes to the initial draft, which are then voted on by the Parliament as a whole. This is a crucial stage in the life of this legislation because, while this proposal has the potential to bring much needed change for cats and dogs, several key measures need to be reinforced to capitalize on this opportunity.
First, we hope that the regulation will mandate the microchipping and registration of all cats and dogs across the Union. Currently, the proposal calls for the mandatory registration only of cats and dogs who are sold by commercial breeders.
Second, it is crucial that the EU provides rules to make national databases of registered cats and dogs interoperable, ensuring their effectiveness if a pet is lost in a country other than the one where it was registered, while also reinforcing efforts against the illegal trafficking of cats and dogs.
Third, this legislation must mandate minimum criminal penalties for those who violate these critical welfare standards, consistent with the EU’s extended competence in the field of criminal law provided in the 2007 Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. Providing deterrent penalties would also send a powerful message of support to animal advocates and shelters, who bear the secondary brunt of abuse and abandonment, with animals being the primary victims.
A Transpartisan Topic
This piece of legislation has galvanized the efforts of the Members of the European Parliament from all political leanings, making this proposal one of the few to be transpartisan. In such a polarized political context, these efforts reflect EU citizens’ strong attachment to companion animals. As animal advocates, we will capitalize on this momentum to raise awareness about all animals, each of whom have the capacity to forge powerful bonds with humans given the opportunity. More broadly, all animals should have the right to flourish, just as companion animals do, in a safe and respectful environment.
Animal Law News
Animal Law News in the EU
🇪🇺 EU
📝 New Laws
Free Trade Agreement (Chile): The Interim Trade Agreement between the EU and Chile entered into force on February 1st. The agreement includes cooperation clauses on animal welfare.
Wild Animals (CITES): By way of Implementing Regulation 2025/06 adopted on January 6th, the Commission authorized the trade in several species of exotic wild animals, including certain species of chameleon from Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, frogs from Madagascar, and lizards from Indonesia. This regulation codifies the recommendations by the Standing Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Wild Animals (Bycatch): The prohibition on fishing contained in Delegated Regulation 2024/3089 as regards measures to reduce incidental catches of common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) and other small cetaceans in the Bay of Biscay entered into force on January 22nd. This prohibition will end on February 20th of this year.
Insects: On January 20th, the Commission issued a marketing authorization for UV-treated mealworm powder as a novel food (for human consumption) through Implementing Regulation 2025/89.
⚖️ Rulings
Wild Animals (habitat protection): In a ruling handed down on November 14th, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Germany failed to meet its obligations to preserve grasslands protected under the Natura 2000 network, pursuant to the Habitats Directive.
Aquatic Animals (animal feed): In a ruling handed down on November 5th, the Court of Justice of the EU dismissed an action seeking a review of the ban on the use of cattle blood and cattle blood-derived products as feed in aquaculture.
✍️ Public Consultations
Aquatic Animals (ocean protection): The Commission is seeking feedback on its draft European Oceans Pact.
Deadline: February 17th.Animal Agriculture (unfair trading practices): The Commission is seeking feedback on its Proposal for a New Regulation on Strengthening Cooperation to Enforce Rules on Unfair Trading Practices in the Agri-Food Supply Chain. This proposal contains a series of measures designed to end unfair practices in farmers’ incomes and profit distribution.
Deadline: March 10th.European Food Safety Authority (EFSA): The Commission is seeking contribution for the evaluation of EFSA’s performance in the 2017–2024 period. Deadline: April 1st.
Genetically Selected Animals: EFSA is seeking feedback on its Draft Scientific Opinion on New Developments in Biotechnology Applied to Animals, which provides guidance on the development and use of new technologies, including synthetic biology (SynBio) and new genomic techniques (NGT) on animals.
Deadline: March 19th.Aquatic animals (Common Fisheries Policy): The European Commission is seeking feedback on its evaluation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).
Deadline: April 21st.Other News
Aquatic Animals (fishing): On January 9th, four environmental protection organizations (Client Earth, Doggerland Foundation, Blue Marine Foundation, and ARK Rewilding) announced that they had filed a lawsuit in the Netherlands challenging the legality of fishing permits for bottom-trawling gear in the Dogger Bank marine protected area, which is located in Dutch waters.
Farm Animals (cages): On January 23rd, the Court of Justice of the EU authorized three organizations (Animal Equality, Eurogroup for Animals, and LAV) to join as interveners in the legal action launched by the Citizens’ Committee of the End the Cage Age European Citizen’s Initiative.
Member States
📝 New Laws
🇧🇪 Belgium (Flanders) – All Animals: The new law on the protection of animals (Vlaamse Codex Dierenwelzijn), which was adopted in May 2024, entered into force on January 1st. This new law replaces the previous legislation, which was enacted back in 1986. New key measures include the recognition of animals as sentient beings, the adoption of a regulatory list of species of animals allowed to be kept as companion animals (“positive list”), rules restricting the selective breeding of companion animals, and the prohibition of animal sales on the streets and in fairs.
⚖️ Rulings
🇫🇷 France – Food Law (plant-based denominations): On January 29th, the French highest administrative court (Conseil d'État) handed down two rulings (here and here) striking down two regulations (here and here) that banned the use of traditional meat names for plant-based products. In doing so, the French court followed the ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU in October 2024, which had found the two regulations unlawful in light of EU law.
🇫🇷 France – Wild Animals (protected species): In a ruling handed down on December 31, 2024, France’s highest administrative court (Conseil d'État) ruled that the competent authorities can require an economic operator to apply for a derogation to conservation rules at any given point and the authorities do not need to wait for the economic operator to apply for a substantial modification of its environmental permit.
🇫🇷 France – Wild animals (captive cetaceans): In a ruling handed down on December 31st 2024, France’s highest administrative court (Conseil d'État) dismissed a petition by animal protection associations who seek to ban all transfers of orcas and dolphins to places other than sanctuaries. However, the Court specified that the competent authorities were not allowed to authorize the transfer of the animals if such animals are likely to be used primarily for commercial purposes. The Court further specified that the competent authorities must take the welfare conditions of the animals at the place of destination into account, and ensure that animals will not be used for commercial purposes. This ruling resulted from a challenge by animal protection organizations, who opposed the transfer to Japan of two orcas held by the Marineland aquatic park in France. Marineland must transfer the orcas outside of France to comply with the ban on the keeping of cetaceans introduced in French legislation by way of a 2021 law, which will enter into force on November 30th, 2026.
Other News
🇨🇿 Czechia – Farm Animals and Companion Animals: In January 2025, the House of Representatives (lower house) of the Czech Republic adopted an amendment to the Veterinary Act, amending the 1992 Act on the protection of animals against cruelty. This amendment expands the authorization for slaughterhouses to conduct ritual slaughter for purposes beyond religious reasons, including export purposes. However, this amendment still requires the stunning of animals before bleeding (reversible stunning). This amendment further requires all slaughterhouses to install video surveillance by 2026 in the spaces where animals are unloaded and moved. Lastly, this amendment prohibits the prolonged tethering of dogs. The Senate (upper house) has yet to vote on this amendment for it to be adopted.
🇨🇿 Czechia – Food Law: The Czech ministry of Agriculture withdrew a proposed amendment to the decree establishing rules on animal products. This amendment aimed to establish stricter regulatory definitions for denominations, such as “burger,” “sausage,” or “schnitzel,” limiting their use to animal-based products.
🇵🇹 Portugal – Aquatic Animals (conservation): On January 31st, the Portuguese Parliament adopted a bill to impose a moratorium on deep-sea mining in Portuguese territorial waters until 2050. The bill will then be discussed in the Senate.
🇸🇮 Slovenia – Farm Animals (Cages): The Ministry of Agriculture in Slovenia committed to phasing out the use of cages in Slovenian animal agriculture through legislation, which is set to enter into force by 2028.
🌏 International Law
📝 New Laws
🇧🇾 Belarus – All Animals: The Law on Responsible Treatment of Animals entered into force on January 1st. Key measures include the recognition of animal sentience, the prohibition on mutilating companion animals, and restrictions on animal euthanasia.
🇺🇸 USA (Massachusetts) – Companion Animals (cats): Massachusetts adopted “An Act Prohibiting Inhumane Feline Declawing,” which was signed into law on January 8th and will enter into force on April 8th.
🇺🇸 USA – Aquatic Animals (Cetaceans): On January 1st, the US federal government adopted a rule under the Marine Mammal Protection Act banning seafood imports originating from fisheries that fail to meet US cetacean bycatch reduction standards. The rule will take effect on January 1st, 2026. The adoption of this new rule comes as the result of a lawsuit filed by the Animal Welfare Institute, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, all of which sought enforcement of the ban.
🇨🇭 Switzerland – Companion Animals, Farm Animals, Animals Used in Science: On December 20th, 2024, the executive branch of the Swiss government adopted a revision of Swiss federal animal welfare regulations, which will enter into force on February 1st, 2025. New measures include a minimum age for puppies before they can be imported into Switzerland, a ban on chick killing, and additional animal welfare standards for animals used in science.
Rulings
🇦🇷 Argentina – Fundamental Rights: The Buenos Aires Court (Justicia de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires) determined that seven canaries who had been subjected to abuse were sentient beings with legal rights. More information (in Spanish).
🇨🇱 Chile – Animal Testing: The Law 21.646 prohibiting the testing of cosmetic products on animals, and the sale of cosmetic products tested on animals entered into force on January 27th, 2025.
Events
Law & Policy
Webinar – Cows, Science, and the Law, ABA International Law Section International Animal Law Committee and the GW Law Animal Law Program, February 7th, Online. Learn more.
Academia
Lecture – Antoine F. Goetschel (Global Animal Law Association), Representation Now, Rights Maybe Later: Urgent Measures on the Regional, National and Global Level, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, February 6th, Hamburg, Germany and online. Learn more.
Webinar – Ashima Sharma, Situating Animal Rights in Law through Legal Personhood Lite: Reconceptualizing Legal Personality for Animals, University of Helsinki, Animal Law Centre, March 26th, Helsinki, Finland and online. Learn more.
Webinar – Anna Caramuru, A Phenomenological and Ecofeminist Account of Animal Rights, University of Helsinki, Animal Law Centre, May 7th, Helsinki, Finland and online. Learn more.
Webinar – Jessica Tselepy, I am More than Cargo: An Examination of the Legality of Measures Which Restrict the Trade of Farmed Non-Human Animals Within the WTO Regime, University of Helsinki, Animal Law Centre, May 28th, Helsinki (Finland) and online. Learn more.
Conference – Harms and Freedoms: Captivity, Natural Habitats, and Sanctuary, the Animal Legal Education Initiative (ALEI) at the George Washington University Law School, April 3rd – 5th 2025, Washing DC (USA). Learn more.
Conference – International Wildlife Conference, April 8th – 9th 2025, Gulfport, Florida (USA). Learn more.
Conference – Animal Liberation: 1975 – 2025 and Beyond, Rennes University, June 4th – 5th 2025, Rennes (France). Learn more.
Conference – 5th Annual UK Animal Law Conference, Birmingham City University, June 4th – 5th 2025, Birmingham (UK). Learn more.
Conference – The Legal Distinction Between Persons and Things: Changing Perspectives, University of Antwerp, July 7th – 8th 2025, Antwerp (Belgium). Learn more.
Summer School – The Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics Annual Summer School, The Ethics of Captivity, August 4th – 7th, Oxford, UK. Learn more.
NGOs
Conference – From Resilience to Recovery: The Role of Animals in Humanitarian Crises, Humane Society International/Europe, February 18th, Brussels, Belgium. Learn more.
Summit – AVA Summit North America, May 15th–18th, Los Angeles (USA). Learn more.
Professional Opportunities
Essay Competition – The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law’s annual essay competition is accepting submissions on the topics of “Is Rights of Nature a Useful Framework for Giving Rights to Animals?” until March 15th. Learn more.
Special Course – The Ca’ Foscari University of Venice is offering a course on “Non-Human Animal Law and Rights in the EU” (Jean Monnet Module) from February 7th to June 13th in Venice, Italy. Learn more.
Summer Program – The application for the Seventh Annual International Summer Institute In Animal Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is open. Deadline to apply: March 9th 2025. Learn more.
Publications
Law and Policy
European Food Safety Authority, Welfare of Horses at Slaughter, EFSA Journal (2025).
European Food Safety Authority, Welfare of Horses During Killing for Purposes Other than Slaughter, EFSA Journal (2025).
Academia
Saide Esra Akdogan and Francesco Cazzini, Policy Coherence for Development in the EU’s Multidimensional Toolbox Against Deforestation: Unilateral, Bilateral and Multilateral Efforts in European Yearbook of International Economic Law (Jelena Bäumler, et al), Springer (2025).
Giulia Bazzan and Colette S. Vogeler, Differentiated Policy Implementation in Food Safety and Animal Welfare Policymaking, European Policy Analysis (2025).
Veerle Platvoet, Growth From Common Ground: Animal Welfare in Wild Animal Law, Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy (2025).
The latest issue of the Environmental Law Review published by Lewis & Clark Law School is focused on the environmental harms of animal agriculture and includes the following article: Daina Bray, Reining in Animal Agriculture’s Emissions by Shrinking the Herd: Early Signs of a Necessary Global Policy Shift, Jeff Sebo, Emma Dietz, and Toni Sims, Towards a Global Ban on Industrial Animal Agriculture by 2050: Legal Basis, Precedents, and Instruments.
NGOs
The European Institute for Animal Law & Policy, The Treatment of Farmed Fish Under EU Law (2025).
Four Paws, Wear it Kind Ranking (2025).
Calls for Contributions
The organizers of the 2025 Comparative Animal Law Postgraduate Workshop are calling for abstracts from current LLM, MSL, PhD candidates, and post-doctoral research fellows, from around the world working in the field of comparative animal law. Deadline to send abstracts: February 15th. Learn more.
The University of Helsinki is calling for abstracts for the conference, “Redefining Agency - Legal and Philosophical Perspectives,” which will take place August 18th – 20th, 2025 at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Deadline to send abstracts: February 28th. Learn more.
The organizers of the US Animal Law Conference are accepting abstracts for the 33rd annual Animal Law Conference, which will take place October 17th – 19th in Chicago (USA) and online. Deadline to send abstracts: February 28th. Learn more.
The editors of the journal Restoration Ecology are calling for papers on the topic of “Nature Restoration Legislation, Implementation and Enforcement: Status, Challenges and Solutions.” Deadline to send abstracts: February 28th. Learn more.