The ethics of animal experimentation are based on the duty of every member of the academic community to respect animals as living, sentient beings. Belgium and the FWB follow European legislation by integrating Commission Directives. In this way, animal welfare conditions for experimental animals are harmonized within the European Union and adapted in line with technical and scientific developments.
Ethics Committee for Animal Experimentation (CEEXPANI)
The ethical aspects of animal experimentation are the responsibility of the CEEXPANI (Ethics Commission for Animal Experimentation), whose composition and ROI were reviewed during the 2016-2017 academic year and validated by the 'Animal Welfare' Service of the Service Public de Wallonie (SPW). All protocols relating to animal experiments must be submitted to this commission prior to the start of the experiments.
The mission of the Ethics Commission is to ensure that current legislation on animal experimentation is properly applied, and to optimize the conditions under which animals are procured, housed and used, both in terms of the facilities and the procedures implemented.
It evaluates the experiments planned and carried out. It establishes ethical criteria for animal experiments and advises experiment directors and collaborators on the ethical aspects of animal experiments. The Commission advises the supervisory authorities on the ethical aspects of animal experiments.
The Rules of Procedure (ROI) and the application forms for evaluation are available on the intranet.
The Commission is also responsible for the preparation of a report on the ethical aspects of animal experiments.The Commission's report is available on the intranet.The Commission's report is available on the intranet.The Commission's report is available on the intranet.