Today, the Commission has adopted a Decision designating the
fourth European Union Reference Centre for Animal Welfare, which will
specialise in the welfare of aquatic animals.

The Reference Centre for the welfare of aquatic animals has
been designated following a public selection process. It will be run by a
Consortium led by the University of Crete (Greece), and also composed of the
Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Parasitology
(Czechia) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain).

EU Reference Centres for animal welfare are established to
assist EU countries in their official controls on animal welfare rules in
farms, during transport and at the time of slaughter or killing. The 3 existing
EU reference centres for animal welfare cover pigs, poultry and other
small-farmed animals, as well as ruminants and equines.

Improving the welfare of aquatic animals, particularly in farms,
during transport and at the time of killing, is an important part of the
Commission’s animal welfare agenda. The new EU Reference Centre will contribute
to ensuring that EU rules in this area are respected.

It will support the activities of the Commission and Member
States by carrying out scientific and technical studies, as well as conducting
training courses and disseminating research findings and information on
technical innovations.

Reference Centres are foreseen under the Official Controls
Regulation, adopted in March 2017, which harmonises EU rules on official
controls along the whole agri-food chain, including in relation to animal
welfare rules.

More information on the animal welfare in the EU