The Consideration of the Maximum Possible Animal Stocking Density in Classifying a Project as Likely to Have a Significant Environmental Effect: The Perspective of Animal Welfare and the Investment and Construction Process

Abstract

The article offers an in-depth analysis of the provisions of the Regulation of the Council of Ministers on projects likely to have a significant environmental effect, which require the adoption of the maximum possible stocking density of animals when classifying livestock farming projects as likely to have a significant environmental effect. The analysis encompasses the international and EU legal sources of this regulation, in particular determining whether its current form is required from their perspective, as well as the course of the legislative process and the practice of its application in the case law of administrative courts. The purpose of the article is to establish not only the correct interpretation of these provisions, but also their consequences for subsequent stages of the investment and construction process, including project design and assessment of its compliance with environmental protection law and the requirements arising from the environmental impact decision. The article also attempts to evaluate the structure of the regulation from the perspective of legal animal protection, including a comparison of the legislator’s approach to animals under the Regulation and under the Animal Protection Act, and an assessment of how the form of these provisions affects the consideration of animal welfare in the design of buildings intended to house animals.