Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T18:20:17.667Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Science-based animal welfare standards: the international role of the Office International des Épizooties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

ACD Bayvel*
Affiliation:
Animal Welfare Group, MAF Biosecurity Authority, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Box 2526, Wellington, New Zealand
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The Office International des Épizooties (OIE) is a Paris-based, inter-governmental organisation with 164 member countries. Since its establishment in 1924, the OIE has made a major indirect contribution to animal welfare, at a global level, via the organisation's role in epizootic disease control. The OIE animal health code includes a chapter on minimum animal welfare standards for trade and a standard-setting role has also been played in respect of animal transportation. In 1994, the publication Animal Welfare and Veterinary Services was included in the OIE Scientific and Technical Review Series, and provides a valuable State Veterinary Service perspective on animal welfare capability and specific animal welfare issues. In drawing up its strategic plan for the period 2001 to 2005, animal welfare and food safety were identified as two areas for future OIE involvement and these were formally accepted as strategic initiatives at the 2001 OIE General Assembly meeting. An international expert group was established to provide specific recommendations on the nature and scope of the OIE's animal welfare role. The expert group's recommendations were reviewed and adopted, as Resolution XIV, at the May 2002 OIE General Assembly meeting. A permanent international working group was established and met for the first time in October 2002. This paper provides a background to animal welfare as an international trade policy issue and provides an update on progress to date in developing an OIE animal welfare mission statement, supporting guiding principles and policies, and an agreed modus operandi. Priority areas for OIE involvement are identified, and emphasis is placed on the importance of making use of all available expertise and resources, including those from academia, the research community, industry, animal welfare organisations and other relevant stakeholders.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Adams, D 2001 Animal Welfare Column. Australian Veterinary Journal 79(7): 448CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anon 1998 Council Directive 98/58/EC Concerning the Protection of Animals Kept for Farming Purposes. Official Journal of the European Communities L221, p 23. Available at: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/.Google Scholar
Anon 1999 Council Directive 99/74/EC Laying Down Minimum Standards for the Protection of Laying Hens. Official Journal of the European Communities L203, p 53. Available at: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/.Google Scholar
Anon 2000 European Communities Proposal: Animal Welfare and Trade in Agriculture (Doc G/AG/NG/W/19). Available through the WTO document search engine at: http://docsonline.wto.org/gen_home.asp?language=I&_=I.Google Scholar
Anon 2001 Council Directive 2001/88/EC Laying Down Minimum Standards for the Protection of Pigs. Official Journal of the European Communities L316, p I. Available at: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/.Google Scholar
Anon 2002a European Commission Communication on Animal Welfare Legislation on Farmed Animals in Third Countries and Implications for the EU (Com [2002] 626). Available through the EC document search engine at: http://europa.eu.int/prelex/apcnet.cfm?CL=en.Google Scholar
Anon 2002b The Office International des Épizooties General Assembly Meeting Resolution No. XIV. The Office International des Épizooties: Paris, FranceGoogle Scholar
Bayvel, A C D 1993 Animal welfare — a threat or an opportunity for research, farming and trade. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 53: 223225Google Scholar
Bayvel, A C D 1996 Animal welfare and international trade. Unpublished Proceedings of the Second Pan Pacific Veterinary Conference, June 1996, Christchurch, New Zealand. New Zealand and Australian Veterinary Associations.Google Scholar
Bayvel, A C D 2000 Animal welfare and the international trade environment. Workshop on Safeguarding Animal Health in Global Trade, Hanover, Germany. Available at: http://www.agriculture.de/acmsI/conf6/ws9curr.htm.Google Scholar
Biandford, D and Fulponi, L 1999 Emerging public concerns in agriculture: domestic policies and international trade commitments. European Review of Agricultural Economics 26(3): 409424CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blokhuis, H, Ekkel, E, Korte, S, Hopster, H and van Reenen, C 2000 Farm animal welfare research in interaction with society. The Veterinary Quarterly 22(4): 1722CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bowles, D 2000 Is the World Trade Organisation a friend or foe to high animal welfare standards? Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law Veterinary Association (AWSELVA) Newsletter 4(1): 45Google Scholar
Brambell, F W R 1965 Report of the Technical Committee to Enquire into the Welfare of Animals Kept Under Intensive Husbandry Systems (Cmnd 2836). Her Majesty's Stationery Office: London, UKGoogle Scholar
Broom, D M 1996 Animal welfare defined in terms of attempts to cope with the environment. Acta Agriculture Scandinavica. Section A, Animal Science 27: 2228 (Suppl)Google Scholar
Brooman, S and Legge, D 2000 Animal welfare vs free trade — free trade wins: an examination of the animal welfare implications of R v Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. Animal Welfare 9: 8185Google Scholar
Charnovitz, S 1998 The moral exception in trade policy. Virginia Journal of International Law 38(4): 689746Google Scholar
COE 1968 European Convention for the Protection of Animals during International Transport (065). Available at: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/CadreListeTraites.htm.Google Scholar
COE 1976 European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes (087). Available at: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/CadreListeTraites.htm.Google Scholar
COE 1979 European Convention for the Protection of Animals for Slaughter (102). Available at: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/CadreListeTraites.htm.Google Scholar
COE 1987 European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals (125). Available at: http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/EN/CadreListeTraites.htm.Google Scholar
Delgado, C 1999 Livestock to 2020: The Next Food Revolution. The International Food Policy Research Institute: Washington DC, USAGoogle Scholar
FAWC 1993 Second Report on Priorities for Research and Development in Farm Animal Welfare. Farm Animal Welfare Council: London, UKGoogle Scholar
FAWC 2001 Interim Report on the Animal Welfare Implications of Farm Assurance Schemes. Farm Animal Welfare Council: London, UKGoogle Scholar
Fraser, D 1999 Animal ethics and animal welfare science: bridging the two cultures. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 65: 171189CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fraser, D 2001a The culture and agriculture of animal production. The Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching (ANZCCART) News 1: 12Google Scholar
Fraser, D 2001b The “new perception” of animal agriculture and a need for genuine analysis. Journal of Animal Science 79: 634641CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harper, G C and Henson, S J 2001 Consumer Concerns about Animal Welfare and the Impact on Food Choice — The Final Report. Centre for Food Economics Research, University of Reading: Reading, UKGoogle Scholar
Hemsworth, P H, Barnett, J L and Coleman, G J 1993 The human-animal relationship in agriculture and its consequences for the animal. Animal Welfare 2: 3351Google Scholar
Jago, J, Fisher, A and Le Neindre, P 2000 Animal welfare and product quality. In: Balázs, E, Galante, E, Lynch, J M, Schepers, J S, Toutant, J-P, Werner, D and Werry, P A T J (eds) Biological Resource Management Connecting Science and Policy pp 163171. Springer: New York, USACrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kellert, X 1988 Human-animal interaction: a review of American attitudes to wild and domestic animals in the twentieth century. In: Rowan, A M (ed) Animals and People Sharing the World pp 137175. University Press of New England: New Hampshire, USAGoogle Scholar
MAFF 2001 Conference on Ethics and Animal Welfare 2001 — Relationships Between Humans and Animals. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: SwedenGoogle Scholar
Mclnerney, J P 1998 The economics of welfare. In: Michell, A R and Ewbank, R (eds) Ethics, Welfare, Law and Market Forces: The Veterinary Interface: Proceedings of a Symposium of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare pp 115134. Universities Federation for Animal Welfare: Wheathampstead, Herts, UKGoogle Scholar
Mellor, D J and Stafford, K J 2001 Integrating practical, regulatory and ethical strategies for enhancing farm animal welfare. Australian Veterinary Journal 79: 762768CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moss, R 1994 Animal welfare and veterinary services. The Office International des Épizooties Scientific and Technical Review 13(1): 13302Google Scholar
OlE 2002 International Animal Health Code. Mammals, Birds and Bees, Ilth Edition. Office International des Épizooties: Paris, FranceGoogle Scholar
RSPCA 1998 Agenda 2000: Future for EU Farm Animal Welfare Available to order at: http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=RSPCA/Publications/CampaignReports RSPCA&articleid=0.Google Scholar
RSPCA 2000 Unpublished Proceedings of a Conference on the Impact of the World Trade Organisation on Farm Animal Welfare, October 24th 2000, London, UK. Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.Google Scholar
RSPCA and Eurogroup for Animal Welfare 1999 Food for Thought: Farm Animal Welfare and the World Trade Organisation. Available to order at: http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=RSPCA/Publications/CampaignReportsRSPCA&articleid=0.Google Scholar
RSPCA, Eurogroup for Animal Welfare and The Humane Society of the United States 1998 Conflict or Concord: Animal Welfare and the World Trade Organisation. Available to order at: http://www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=RSPCA/Publications/CampaignReportsRSPCA&articlei d=0.Google Scholar
Spedding, C R W 2000 Animal Welfare. Earthscan Publications: London, UKGoogle Scholar
Swinbank, A 2000 Ethics, trade and the World Trade Organisation. Unpublished Proceedings of the University of Reading Agricultural Economics Society Annual Conference, 14-17 April 2000, University of Manchester, UK. Available at: http://www.apd.rdg.ac.uk/AgEcon/staff/staffpapers/AESEthics00.pdf.Google Scholar
Webster, A J F 2001 Farm animal welfare: the five freedoms and the free market. The Veterinary Journal 161: 229237CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winter, M 1999 European agricultural policy and farm animal welfare Food Policy 23(3-4): 305323CrossRefGoogle Scholar