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International & Foreign Animal Law Research Guide

Introduction

This guide is intended to help researchers locate information on animal law in an international and foreign law context. For help researching U.S. animal law, see our companion guide.

The focus of this guide is primarily on international and foreign law that addresses welfare issues of companion animals, farm animals and animals used in research. In this guide, there is less of a focus on international law for the protection of wildlife and marine animals. Here you will find links and information on international treaties, national laws on animal welfare, EU legislation, case law, books, articles and organizations.

Animal law is a broad subject, with governments and organizations worldwide constantly developing new concepts and approaches to animal welfare. Some issues include:

  • the overpopulation of companion animals
  • trade in exotic animals as pets
  • animal fighting (e.g. dog and cock fighting)
  • animal cruelty legislation
  • humane transport of farm animals
  • use of battery cages and gestation crates
  • animal research in the cosmetics industry
  • the fur industry

If you have questions, please feel free to contact the Wolff Library reference desk at 202-662-4195 or by email: intlref@law.georgetown.edu. You may also submit your question via this online form.

Background Sources

Books on international animal law and related interdisciplinary topics can be found in several places in Wolff and Williams. If you would like to browse books in Wolff, you can find them at K3620, K3520 to K3525, and KD3424. See our U.S. -focused animal guide for suggestions on locating books in Williams.

Below are some good starting points, but to locate more resources, search the online catalog (or try our NEW catalog interface) using keywords to narrow your search results. For example <animal welfare> or <treatment of animals>. You may find some books that focus specifically on international animal law, while others may only include one or two relevant chapters.

  • Animal Welfare INTL HV4711.A55 2006
    This is published by the Council of Europe as part of a series called Ethical Eye and examines the ethical issues, religious viewpoints (from around the world) and the situation in Europe.
  • Animal Welfare Law in Britain : Regulation and Responsibility INTL KD3424 .R33 2001
    Though a little dated ( laws and regulations have been amended) this presents the background and analysis of key animal welfare law and legislation such as agricultural production, scientific procedures, and domestic pets.
  • Animals, Ethics, and Trade : The Challenge of Animal Sentience HV4704.A52 2006 Includes several chapters on animal welfare issues in China, one on India and a section on international animal policy.
  • Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Cultures INTL BP134.N3 F65 2006
    A general overview of Muslim and Islamic attitudes and philosophies throughout time to the present on such topics as wildlife conservation and religious laws on food.
  • Basic Legal Documents on International Animal Welfare and Wildlife Conservation
    INTL K3525.A35 B37 2000
    International, regional, European Union and by use of the animal agreements are grouped together along with some brief annotations and ratification information.
  • Compassionate Beasts : The Quest for Animal Rights HV4764 .M86 2001
    Includes the chapter "Multi-Issue Advocacy in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia".
  • In Defense of Animals : The Second Wave HV4711 .I6 2006
    Includes the chapter "How Austria Achieved a Historic Breakthrough for Animals".
  • The international handbook of animal abuse and cruelty : theory, research, and application INTL HV4708 .I57 2008
    Covers a wide range of jurisdictions (Australia, Japan, Italy) as well as human animal relationships (domestic violence , child development, hoarding).
  • Livestock, Ethics, and Quality of Life SF140.S62 L58 2000 Includes chapters on Asia, Latin America and Africa.
  • The no-nonsense guide to animal rights HV4708 .G73 2006
    An accessible introduction to a general history of animal rights in the West, plus a chapter comparing the treatment of animals world wide with an appendix at the end which list the major regional and international organization concerned with animal welfare.
  • The WTO, Animals and PPMs INTL K3620 .N54 2007
    Though more focused on the process and production methods (PPMs) in the international trade context there is a chapter on animal welfare.

Treaties

Currently, there is no worldwide treaty governing the protection of animal welfare.

In 1978 UNESCO was presented the Universal Declaration of Animal rights. More recently animal welfare organizations (such as the World Society for the Protection of Animals and the ASPCA) are leading a campaign to gather 10 million signatures to present to the United Nations along with the text of a "Universal Declaration for the Welfare of Animals (UDWA)" There have been two animal welfare conferences which have produced two different text of the UDWA (Manila 2003) and the UDWA(Costa Rica 2005). They are still in the process of promoting the adoption of UDWA.

In addition to UDWA , another proposed text is the "International Convention for the Protection of Animals" [from Animal Legal & Historical Center]. For further discussion, see "Movement Toward an International Convention for the Protection of Animals - The Further Adventures of Four Rabbits" in Animal Welfare and the Law INTL KD3424.A75 A53 1989.

The European Union has regional treaties on certain issues relating to animal welfare for a further discussion please see the section below on E.U. treaties

Foreign Laws

Usually, the best place to start research on foreign legislation is the Foreign Law Guide. The Foreign Law Guide is arranged by country and outlines major laws on a given subject. The subject "Animals and Animal Welfare" is included for each of the jurisdictions, but this relevant subject is blank for the majority of jurisdictions. Since the Foreign Law Guide is not a viable source for information on animal law, you may have to turn to the Internet and to secondary sources such as journal articles and books to locate foreign legislation on the topic. Be aware that you may only find summaries of laws, or that a reliable English-language translation may not be available.

WorldLII, while not having materials for all countries, can sometime have case law and legislation as well as links to other relevant resources. There is no subject heading for animals, however sometimes within a jurisdiction or a topic there is relevant information (e.g. in the Mexican legal research guide there is mention of the Protections of Animals Act.) In addition, if you click on advance search you can search by "All Legislation Databases".

Animal welfare legislation from various countries can be found scattered across various websites. The "World Materials" page of the Animal Legal and Historical Center is one example of a site that collects laws from several countries. Below is a list of national laws on animal welfare that are written in English, have been translated into English, or have English summaries. Please note how current the laws below are, will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, so they are best thought of as a starting point to be updated by further research.

Case Law

Foreign case law can be more challenging to locate than foreign legislation. You may not be able to locate an English translation of a foreign decision.

In many countries, court decisions are not considered primary law and there may not be any official publication of decisions. Also, in some countries, only the country's highest court will issue its decisions. Periodicals and journals may be the best source for decisions--in fact, in many countries, legal periodicals act as unofficial sources for case decisions. Periodicals can also be used to find case summaries and citations to new case law.

If you have the citation to a foreign decision and cannot decipher the abbreviation for the case reporter, try the Cardiff Index to Legal Abbreviations online or Index to legal citations and abbreviations INTL K85 .R3 2008

Below are selected print and electronic sources for foreign case law. For more guidance on locating foreign law cases, please see our Foreign & Comparative Law Research Guide.

European Union

The E.U. has taken active approach to the many different aspects of animal law, since legislation on farm animal welfare was first adopted in 1974. The information below is focused on welfare issues of companion animals, farm animals and animals used in research; excluded are legal materials which focus on conservation and preservation. For more information on locating materials on those topics try our International Environmental Law Research Guide. In addition, in our European Union Research guide, you can find more general guidance on doing legal research for E.U..

In November 2009, an independent external evaluation of the current E.U. policy on Animal Welfare (EU PAW) was created. There is also the Community Action Plan on the Protection which is charged with coordinating, promoting and improving the E.U. policies on animal welfare. Created in 2006, when they have posted they have posted most of their working papers online. An excellent place for an overview of the international coordinating, creating and obligations of E.U. policies on animal welfare, is from the International Animal Welfare Issues section of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection.

Below is a listing the major E.U. treaties, directives and regulations on animal welfare issues, please note this not an exhaustive list of all the possible laws and regulations which could apply to animal welfare issues. Be sure to update your research!

E.U. Treaties

The European Union has several regional treaties governing the protection of animals in transport, farming and experimentation.

E.U. Directives and Regulations

An excellent source to check for current issues and proposed EU legislation on animal law is the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Consumer Protection. For example, there is a section on Animal Welfare which provides an excellent starting point for knowing which agencies are responsible for which type of legislation and enforcement. There are also surveys of public opinion and policy objectives. On the DG's site you can find, for example, the proposed regulation on the banning of the import, export and sale of dog and cat fur in the EU.

For more EU legislation on animal protection, see this list from EUR-Lex. [Hint: EUR-Lex is the top online source for researching existing EU legislation, while ŒIL, the Legislative Observatory and Pre-Lex are two places to search for proposed law.] See our research guide on the EU for more detailed information

Below are some of the key EU directives on farming animals, transport and animal experimentation. Be sure to update your research!

Farm Animals

Transport

Animal Experimentation

Journal Articles

Periodical literature is a good way to obtain background information, locate the text of a foreign law, a citation, or locate information about a subject. Westlaw and Lexis provide excellent coverage of U.S. law reviews, but you should consider expanding your journal research to foreign journals and indexes for more comprehensive and global coverage. For information on other journal databases, see our Using Articles for Legal and Non-Legal Research for a complete list.

In addition, see our guide on Locating Journal Articles: Foreign & International, as there are foreign and international law journals databases linked to, as another way to research this topic in the foreign and international law context. Since animal welfare is topically interdisciplinary, try our online catalog (or our NEW interface) as another option for searching for what materials are available both electronically and in print.

If you already have a citation and would like to read the article, simply type the journal name as a title search in the library catalog. The results will tell you if we have print, electronic, or both. Be sure to check coverage dates or volume numbers to determine if your particular volume or issue is available. If the library does not have the journal article, you may request the article through interlibrary loan and we will ask another library to make a photocopy.

Articles on international/foreign law aspects of animal law can be found published in a number of sources, including many American law journals. You may find relevant articles in journals that do not otherwise focus on international or foreign law topics. For example, the journal Animal Law in print K1 .N4575 and available online includes both articles with an American law focus as well as those with an international/foreign law focus.

Below are listed a few of the most commonly used resources for locating articles on animal welfare in the foreign and international law context.

  • Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) (Georgetown Law Only).
    A multilingual index to articles and book reviews appearing in approximately 490 legal journals published worldwide. Online access from 1985 to the present. Please note while this is not a full text database interlibrary loan can obtain many of the articles if a copy is not available at any of the Georgetown libraries. This is the best resource to search for foreign language legal journal articles.
  • Cambridge University Press Journals (Georgetown only)
    This full-text database offers both legal and non-legal journals published by Cambridge University. We suggest using advanced searching and you can limit by selecting "law" from the subject list. Titles include Cambridge Law Journal, Journal of African Law, World Trade Review, Legal Theory, and much more.
  • Oxford University Press (Georgetown only)
    Full-text database of both legal and non-legal journals published by Oxford University. You can limit to a particular journal or to the subject law. Journal titles include Chinese Journal of International Law, International Journal of Law and Information Technology, International Journal of Transitional Justice, American Law and Economics Review, and much more. Online access to many of the frequently-cited Oxford journals.

Current Awareness

There are many organizations worldwide that monitor or advocate for law on animal welfare issues. Some organizations post relevant laws to their websites, others produce reports or other documents on various issues. Surveying the websites of animal welfare organizations is a good way to find out what are some of the hottest issues -- always good topics for seminar papers!

Useful Resources

  • POSTNote Animal Procedures
    The U.K. Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology publishes short briefing notes (POSTnotes) this note from 2001 outlines the law and trends on the use of animals in scientific research in a brief and accessible way.
  • The Institute for Critical Animal studies (ICAS) publishes an online only journal of general scholarly work on animal welfare issues
  • Transatlantic Animal Welfare Council (TAWC) currently hosted by Eurogroup for Animals was launched on April 29, 2010 is an ad hoc committee to help promote legislative harmonization in the U.S. and E.U. of animal welfare law and policy. This declaration lists their goals and which organizations are involved.

Revised 5/10 (ras)
Links revised 8/08 (ras)
Revised 5/07 (aeb)

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