Breeding, keeping and transportation of laboratory animals

3. Regular inspections and audits

The authorities in European countries conduct inspections in accordance with the applicable European and national legislation governing animal keeping and breeding facilities. In addition, many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities, hospitals and other research institutes around the world have been accredited by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animals Care and Use (AAALAC), a private international non-profit organization that offers voluntary assessment and accreditation programmes that promote the humane treatment of animals. This means that they have been certified and are regularly audited by AAALAC. AAALAC accreditation guarantees an international standard on which research-based companies can rely. Furthermore, the research-based pharmaceutical companies that are members of Interpharma regularly conduct their own audits of the breeders they work with using comprehensive checklists (shared audits; see Animal Welfare Charter p. 20 and Audit process p. 33).