Using by Pro-Animal Organizations EU and National Legislative Tools to Outlaw the Breeding

Abstract

Based on the European Citizens’ Initiative “Fur Free Europe”, the article outlines how European animal advocacy organizations are using EU legislative tools in the fight to improve animal welfare by introducing an EU-wide ban on the keeping and killing of animals exclusively or primarily for fur production, and a ban on the marketing in the European Union of fur from farmed animals and products containing such fur. The article presents the general EU legal basis for the protection of animal welfare and the EU regulation on fur animals. It also discusses the legal basis for the European Citizens’ Initiative and the course of work on the “Fur Free Europe” initiative from the submission of the initiative’s registration application (25 January 2022) to September 2024. The use of domestic legislative tools by pro-animal organizations is also presented, describing the main ideas of the parliamentary bill on amendments to the Animals Protection Act aimed at banning the breeding and raising of animals for fur, which was prepared in cooperation with pro-animal organizations: the Open Cages Association and the International Movement for Animals – Viva! Foundation, submitted to the Sejm in June 2024.