Animal Welfare Act

This law replaced the animal welfare acts of the Federal Provinces - which were mutually inconsistent in many ways – and ensured the long-sought standardisation of animal welfare rules.

At the same time, the Animal Welfare Act transposes the EU Directive with minimum standards for laying hens, calves and pigs as well as the EU Directive on the protection of animals kept for farming purposes.

Content

The Animal Welfare Act defines general conditions for animal management and sets forth a number of explicit bans on actions and interventions that are detrimental to animal welfare.

The law itself merely provides general principles and requirements for the management and handling of animals, and it is for ordinances to lay out minimum and detailed requirements for the management of individual animal species (Art.24). Specific management conditions for numerous animal groups are therefore set forth in ordinances.

The management specifications for animals kept for farming purposes are found in the 1st Animal Husbandry Ordinance (1. Tierhaltungsverordnung).

1st Animal Husbandry Ordinance

The Ordinance on the minimum requirements for keeping horses and equidae, pig, cattle, goats, hoofed game, lamas, rabbits, poultry, ostriches and farmed fish - 1st Animal Husbandry Ordinance, Federal Law Gazette II 2004/485, was enacted in consultation with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management.

The Ordinance comprises

• rules for the attendants (Art. 3)
• rules for interventions (Art. 4 and in the relevant annexes)
• special rules for the management of individual animal species in annexes 1-11
  • Annex 1 Horses and equidae
  • Annex 2 Bovine animals
  • Annex 3 Ovine animals
  • Annex 4 Caprine animals
  • Anne 5 Porcine animals
  • Annex 6 Poultry
  • Annex 7 Ostrich
  • Annex 8 Red deer, Sika deer, fallow deer, European mouflon und wild board and Père David's deer
  • Annex 9 Rabbits
  • Annex 10 Farmed fish
  • Annex 11 Lamas

Responsibility

Legal responsibility lies with the Federal Ministry of Health, which also enacts the ordinances on the basis of the Animal Welfare Act. Ordinances relating to animals used for farming purposes need to be enacted in consultation with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management.

The Federal Provinces are charged with enforcing the Animal Welfare Act. The district administrative authority is usually the competent authority (Art. 33).

New kinds of serially-produced housing systems, new types of technical equipment for animal management and serially-produced management systems and stable facilities as well as pet accommodation and pet supplies pursuant to Art. 18 Animal Welfare Act (TSchG) are assessed by the Specialist Unit for Animal-friendly Husbandry and Animal Welfare.

Other bodies and advisory boards

• Animal Welfare Ombudsman (Art. 41): Every Federal Provinces is obliged to appoint an ombudsman for animal welfare. The ombudsman acts independently and represents animal welfare interests (party status in administrative proceedings pursuant to the Animal Welfare Act, right to examine documents).

• Animal Welfare Council (Art. 42): The Animal Welfare Council is essentially an expert committee tasked with advising the Federal Minister of Health on animal welfare issues.

• Committee on Enforcement (Art. 42a): The Committee on Enforcement is charged with ensuring the consistent enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act It consists of representatives from the provincial veterinary authorities, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management and of a spokesperson for the animal welfare ombudsmen.

Animal Welfare Commission (Art. 41a): Members of the Animal Welfare Commission include – in addition to experts from the Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management - delegates from the parties represented in the National Council (Nationalrat). The Commission specifically makes recommendations on political priority issues and with regard to the development of animal welfare.