EN
Legal protection of animals used in experiments in the EU is based on provisions of the European Convention passed in 1986 in Strasburg on the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes. Animal protection rights is subject to evolution. At the end of the last year, the European Parliament and Council Directive was enforced on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, which is to approximate member states’ legal regulations and improve minimal standards of experimental animal welfare. To lower the scale of using test animals, the Directive promotes the principles for replacement, reduction, and refinement of the use of animals in experiments and supports applying alternative methods. The directive’s stipulations have to be implemented into the Polish legal system by the end of 2012. In Poland, experiments on animals may be carried out only in authorized scientific units and this is directly supervised by local ethics committees for experiments on animals as well as by the Veterinary Inspection.