Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

[**Avis juridique important**](../../../editorial/legal_notice.htm)

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# 91997E3272

**WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3272/97 by Gianni TAMINO to the Commission. Fifth framework programme** 
  
*Official Journal C 174 , 08/06/1998 P. 0033*

  

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3272/97 by Gianni Tamino (V) to the Commission (20 October 1997)

Subject: Fifth framework programme

To repeat the query not dealt with in the answer to my Written Question E-1873/97 ((OJ C 45, 10.2.1998, p. 115. )) of 29 May 1997 (see point 2 of the question), will acceptance of projects be 'linked to compliance with the 50% reduction in the use of animals in experiments announced by the Commission in the fifth programme on the environment'?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission (13 January 1998)

The acceptance of research projects under the Fifth Framework Programme in the field of Research will depend on whether the criteria set out in Annex I of the Commission Proposal ((COM(97) 142 final. )) are met. Moreover, the Commission stipulates in its Proposal that, as far as possible, testing on animals will be replaced by in vitro experiments or other alternative means. The Commission places great importance on the objective of reducing the amount of testing carried out on animals to a minimum; to achieve this, when it comes to assessing the research projects submitted within the Fifth Framework Programme, compliance with the ethical requirements in relation to animal testing - replacement, reduction, optimisation - will be taken into account. These principles are also mentioned by the Group of Advisers on the Ethical Implications of Biotechnology in its 10th Opinion, published on 11 December 1997, on the ethical aspects of the Fifth Framework Programme.

The objective referred to by the Honourable Member appears in the general terms of the Commission Proposal on the Fifth Community programme of policy and action in relation to the environment ((COM(92) 23. )), as presented by the Commission in 1992. This objective has not however been re-addressed at Council level in its resolution on the Fifth Community programme of policy and action, but it remains a principal which the Commission pays close attention to when accepting projects.

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