Principles of animal ethics in Scandinavian animal welfare legislation and governance

Abstract

This report is written at the request of the Athena Institute at the Free University of Amsterdam and describes how principles of animal ethics are expressed in the legislation and in the governance system in Scandinavia. The task had four elements: 1) Is there a set of normative principles that can structure the entire animal welfare discourse? 2) If so, how are these principles positioned in national legislation on animal welfare? 3) What types of governance instruments and structures have been erected to guarantee that these ethical principles are applied and implemented in various animal practices? 4) How do these governance instruments function in practice? What are explanatory reasons of good or bad functioning? Laboratory animal use was not to be discussed in this report.