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ANIMALS (CONTROL OF EXPERIMENTS) CHAPTER 247

ANIMALS (CONTROL OF EXPERIMENTS)

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS SECTION

1. Short title. 2. Interpretation. 3. Experiments only to be performed by licensed persons. 4. No experiments to attain manual skill. 5. Prohibition of experiments for illustration of lectures subject to certain conditions. 6. Restrictions upon performances of experiments by licence. 7. Grant of licence. 8. Permits. 9. Special permits. 10. Records and inspections. 11. Returns. 12. Rules. 13. Revocation of licence or permit. 14. Entry on warrant by justice. 15. Penalty. 16. Restriction on prosecution of licensee.

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CHAPTER 247

ANIMALS (CONTROL OF EXPERIMENTS) An Act to control experiments on living animals.

[Commencement 15th July, 1957] 1. This Act may be cited as the Animals (Control of

Experiments) Act. 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “animal” means a living vertebrate animal; “experiment” means any experiment performed on an

animal and calculated to give pain; “licensee” means a person licensed under section 7 of

this Act. “Minister” means the Minister responsible for Public

Health. 3. (1) No person except a licensee shall perform any

experiment. (2) No licensee shall perform any experiment except

in accordance with the terms of his licence and subject to the restrictions imposed by this Act.

4. No licensee shall perform any experiment for the purpose of attaining manual skill.

5. No licensee shall perform any experiment for the purpose of illustrating any lecture at any university, university college, hospital, medical school, agricultural college, farm school or any other academic institution unless he is the holder of a teaching permit under this Act, and unless the experiment is of a class specified in such permit and is performed in accordance with the terms of such permit.

6. (1) Except as otherwise provided in section 5 of this Act, no licensee shall perform any experiment except —

(a) for the purpose of the advancement by new discovery of physiological knowledge, or of any knowledge which will be useful for saving or

42 of 1957 G.N. 172 of 1964 E.L.A.O., 1974 5 of 1987 Short title.

Interpretation.

E.L.A.O., 1974.

Experiments only to be performed by licensed persons.

No experiments to attain manual skill. Prohibition of experiments for illustration of lectures subject to certain conditions.

Restrictions upon performances of experiments by licence.

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prolonging life, or alleviating suffering, or for combating any disease whether of human beings, animals or plants;

(b) for the purpose of testing any former discovery alleged to have been made for the advancement of the types of knowledge referred to in paragraph (a) of this subsection;

(c) by the order in writing of any judge of the Supreme Court in any case where such judge is satisfied that it is essential for the purpose of justice in a criminal case to make such experiment.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, no licensee shall perform any experiment unless —

(a) throughout the whole of the experiment the animal is under the influence of some anaesthetic of sufficient power to prevent the animal feeling pain; and

(b) if the pain is likely to continue after the effect of the anaesthetic has ceased, or if any serious injury has been inflicted on the animal, the animal is killed before it recovers from the influence of the anaesthetic which has been administered.

(3) The provisions of subsection (2) of this section shall not apply to any licensee who is the holder of a special permit granted under section 9 of this Act in relation to any experiment specified in such special permit.

7. (1) The Minister may grant a licence to any person to perform any experiment for any purpose specified in such licence during such period and subject to such conditions in addition to the conditions specified in this Act as he may think fit.

(2) It shall be a condition of any licence granted under subsection (1) of this section, that any experiment performed pursuant to such licence shall be performed at such place as may be specified in such licence.

8. (1) Where the Minister is satisfied that it is necessary for the due instruction of persons attending any course of lectures for the purpose of acquiring

Grant of licence.E.L.A.O., 1974.

Permits.E.L.A.O., 1974.

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physiological knowledge or any knowledge which will be used for saving or prolonging life, or alleviating suffering, or for combating any disease whether of human beings, animals or plants, for any such lecture to be illustrated by the performance of any experiment, the Minister may grant to a licensee under this Act a teaching permit to perform any experiment specified in such licence for the purpose of illustrating such lecture.

(2) Every teaching permit under this section shall be subject to such conditions in addition to any conditions specified in this Act as may be specified in such permit, and such permit shall remain in force for twelve months from the date on which it is granted.

9. (1) Where the Minister is satisfied that the object of any experiment permitted to be performed by a licensee under this Act would necessarily be frustrated —

(a) by the performance of such experiment under any anaesthetic; or

(b) by killing the animal on which such experiment is performed before it recovers from the influence of any anaesthetic,

he may grant a special permit authorising the licensee to perform such experiment without administering any anaesthetic to the animal or without killing the animal before it recovers from the influence of such anaesthetic as the case may be.

(2) Any special permit under this section shall specify the period for which it shall remain in force.

10. (1) Every licensee under this Act shall keep, in such form as may be prescribed, records of all painful experiments performed by him.

(2) Every licensee under this Act shall permit any person authorised in writing by the Minister to inspect any records kept by him at any time between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on any day other than a Sunday or public holiday.

(3) Every licensee under this Act shall permit any person authorised in writing as aforesaid to enter and inspect, for the purpose of securing compliance with the provisions of this Act, any place specified in such licensee’s licence for the performance of experiments.

Special permits.E.L.A.O., 1974.

Records and inspections.

G.N. 172 of 1964.

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11. Every licensee shall render to the Minister in such form and at such time as may be prescribed such returns as may be required in relation to any experiments performed by him.

12. (1) The Minister may make rules generally for the better carrying out of the provisions of this Act.

(2) Rules made under this section may without prejudice to the generality of the power conferred by subsection (1) of this section provide for the keeping of records of all experiments performed by any licensee under this Act and for the rendering of returns in relation to any experiments performed under this Act.

13. It shall be a condition of every licence or permit granted under this Act that such licence or permit may be revoked at any time by the person granting it on his being satisfied that such licence or permit ought to be revoked.

14. A justice of the peace, on information on oath that there is reasonable ground to believe that experiments in contravention of this Act are being performed by an unlicensed person in any place not registered under this Act may issue his warrant authorising any officer or constable of police to enter and search such place, and to take the names and addresses of the persons found therein.

Any person who refuses admission on demand to a police officer or constable so authorised, or obstructs such officer or constable in the execution of his duty under this section, or who refuses on demand to disclose his name or address, or gives a false name or address, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding twenty-five dollars.

15. Every person who acts in contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any condition of any licence or permit granted under this Act shall be guilty of an offence against this Act and unless otherwise provided shall be liable upon summary conviction to a fine of two hundred dollars or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

16. A prosecution under this Act against a licensee shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Attorney-General.

G.N. 172 of 1964. Returns.

Rules.E.L.A.O., 1974.

Revocation of licence or permit.

Entry on warrant by justice.

5 of 1987, Sch.

Penalty.

5 of 1987, s. 2.

Restriction on prosecution of licensee.