![]() ![]() Welfare laws in this country go far beyond the minimum standards set by the EU, and it is unclear why simply putting the fact of animal sentience into a law would achieve any improvement in animal welfare. Successive governments and parliaments have recognised the fact of animal sentience both prior to, and since our membership of the EU, as reflected in the body of animal welfare legislation on the Statute Book, including the Animal Welfare Act 2006. Animal welfare laws in the UK date back nearly 200 years to 1822 when the Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act was passed. The recognition of animal sentience and the consequent need for animal welfare laws is nothing new. The Report of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee can be found here. ![]() The Government was told, in no uncertain terms, to go away and think again. It was clear that it would have left almost all, and any, ministerial decision open to challenge by judicial review. When the Government introduced the Animal Welfare (Sentencing and Sentience) draft Bill in 2018, to transfer the duty to have regard to animal welfare to UK ministers directly, this part of the Bill was universally criticised. It could be assumed that the sentience, and therefore welfare, of animals had been duly considered in any EU regulation or directive applied in UK law, because of our membership of the Union. Moreover, because this requirement was enshrined in EU law there was little, if any, direct effect in UK domestic law. #ANIMAL SENTIENCE FULL#The obligation under the TFEU to “pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals” is balanced against the need to respect “the legislative or administrative provisions and customs of the Member States relating in particular to religious rites, cultural traditions and regional heritage”, and is limited to specified areas of policy: “agriculture, fisheries, transport, internal market, research and technological development and space policies”. The reference to animals as sentient is explanatory in purpose making clear that the reason why regard must be had to animal welfare is because animals are recognised as sentient. Specific reference to animal sentience was inserted much later by an amendment made to the original wording in the Treaty of the European Union by the Lisbon Treaty and is now found as Article 13 of the consolidated treaty – Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). ![]() ![]() Within EU law, the obligation on the EU and Member States to “pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals” is a long standing one and appears in the original Treaty of the European Union. The furore around animal sentience began as a result of Brexit because, with our departure from the European Union, there would no longer be an explicit reference in law applicable in the UK to the sentience of animals. This is part of the Government’s much wider Action Plan for Animal Welfare. Last week, on 13 May, following its announcement in the Queen’s Speech, the Government published its Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which will have its Second Reading in the House of Lords shortly. ![]()
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