A4-0196/95

Amended proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Community, of the European Convention for the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes (COM(94)0366 - C4-0145/95 - 95/0198(CNS))

The proposal was approved with the following amendments:

(Amendment 1)

Recital 3a (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas the use of primates for testing and experimental purposes leads to large numbers of primates being taken from the wild to cover the enormous losses during catching and transport;

(Amendment 2)

Recital 3b (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas the use of primates for testing and experimental purposes causes enormous suffering for those animals and should therefore on ethical grounds be reduced by all possible means;

(Amendment 3)

Recital 3c (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas the Fifth Environmental Action Programme aims at a reduction of animal use in experimentation of 50 % by the year 2000; whereas this target must not, however, stand in the way of the formulation and achievement of more ambitious objectives;

(Amendment 4)

Recital 3d (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas the Community is stepping up its efforts to develop substitute methods and computer-aided simulation models so that the goal of reducing experiments on animals may be achieved within the period stipulated;

(Amendment 5)

Recital 3e (new)

>Text following EP vote>

Whereas the Community also endorses projects that encourage a full and uncomplicated exchange of data on the use of animals in experiments and prescribe that duplicate experiments must be avoided;

(Amendment 6)

Text of the Community reservation

>Original text>

'In application of Article 34(1) of the European Convention for the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes, the European Community states that it does not consider itself bound by the requirement to communicate statistical data laid down in Article 28(1) of the said Convention.¨

>Text following EP vote>

'In application of Article 34(1) of the European Convention for the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes, the European Community states that it is, until the year 2000, bound by the requirement to communicate statistical data laid down in Article 28(1) of the said Convention, on the understanding that it shall communicate every two years to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe the requested information. From the year 2000 onwards the European Community will be bound by the requirement to communicate statistical data laid down in Article 28(1) of the said Convention without any reservation.¨

(Amendment 7)

Draft statement to be entered in the Council minutes

>Original text>

'The representatives of the Member States, meeting within the Council, which have not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention referred to in Article 1 state that they will take the necessary measures to ensure that the instruments of approval of the Community and its Member States may, as far as possible, be deposited simultaneously, and by ... at the latest.¨

>Text following EP vote>

'The representatives of the Member States, meeting within the Council, which have not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention referred to in Article 1 state that they will take the necessary measures to ensure that the instruments of approval of the Community and its Member States may, as far as possible, be deposited simultaneously, and by 1 January 2000 at the latest.¨

Legislative resolution embodying Parliament's opinion on the amended proposal for a Council Decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Community, of the European Convention for the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes (COM(94)0366 - C4-0145/95 - 95/0198(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council, COM(89)0302 - 00/0198(SYN) ((OJ C 200, 5.8.1989, p. 8.)),

- having regard to Parliament's opinion of 11 October 1989 (( OJ C 291, 20.11.1989, p. 36.)),

- having regard to the amended proposal for a Council decision COM(94)0366 - 00/0198(CNS),

- having been consulted by the Council pursuant to Articles 100a and 228(2) and (3), first subparagraph, of the EC Treaty (C4-0145/95),

- having regard to Rule 58 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection and the letter from the Committee on Legal Affairs and Citizen's Rights (A4-0196/95),

1. Approves the Commission proposal, subject to Parliament's amendments;

2. Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 189a(2) of the EC Treaty;

3. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament should it intend to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

4. Instructs its President to forward this opinion to the Council and Commission.