New Animal Protection Law Passed in Luxembourg

A new law on the protection of the life, safety and welfare of animals was passed yesterday afternoon in the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies.

This new law aims to protect animals while ensuring their dignity, safety and well-being at every stage of their lives. The legislative text defines animal welfare as a state of comfort and physiological and psychological balance of an animal, characterised by a good state of health, sufficient comfort, a good nutritional state, the possibility of expression of natural behaviour and a state of security, as well as the absence of suffering.

The Luxembourg Minister of Agriculture, Viticulture and Consumer Protection Fernand Etgen emphasised that the text was developed after extensive consultation with stakeholders such as animal welfare organisations, while also taking into account the evolution of scientific knowledge.

This new bill was all the more important since the law currently in force dates from 15 March 1983 and has not been modified for more than 30 years, while attitudes towards animals have since changed. As such, this new law has a fundamentally new approach, which is based on the legal recognition of the dignity of the animal that must be respected by those who care for it. Another modification concerns offenses in case of the non-respect of animal welfare; the catalogue of penal sanctions has been revised and strengthened both in terms of fines (maximum of €200,000) and imprisonment (maximum 3 years).

In addition, a complementary category of sanctions has been incorporated into the new law, the administrative sanctions, which aim to be able to close an institution without delay in the event of non-compliance with the provisions of the new law on animal protection. The bill also imposes much more rigor on the breeding and keeping of animals.

The new Animal Protection Bill is one of the most modern in Europe, recognising animals as having new rights, thus placing Luxembourg among the EU member states with one of the most protective animal rights laws.

The Ministry of Agriculture will also launch an awareness campaign to raise awareness of better animal welfare. The information platform www.deiereschutzgesetz.lu will be available from today.