The Swedish legislation on animal experiments is stricter than the EU directive requires, and includes a wider definition of animal experiments as well as mandatory ethical review of all experiments.
Legislation
Animal experiments are regulated through the Animal Protection Act and the Animal Protection Ordinance as well as more detailed regulations issued by the Board of Agriculture. The Swedish legislation on animal protection, animal experiments and more useful information is available at Codex »
The Swedish ethics committees
In Sweden each planned animal experiment must be submitted to one of the seven regional animal experimental ethics committees for a review. Experiments on animals are illegal unless the project has been approved by an ethics committee.
In accordance with the Swedish freedom of information legislation, the applications are available for anyone who is interested in seeing them. The information within the application includes a description of the planned experiment, the purpose of the project, the number and species of animals to be used, the name of the responsible researcher and where the animals are kept. Projects can be approved for a maximum time of 5 years.
Number of animals used
The Swedish definition of laboratory animal differs from the definition in EU legislation and covers many more uses of animals, including animals killed for use of their tissue, organs or cells, as well as behavioural experiments, feeding experiments etc.
In the Swedish Animal Welfare Act, laboratory animals are defined as animals used in animal experiments and animals that are bred, kept, or supplied for animal experiments.
Animal experiment is defined as the use of animals for:
1. scientific research
2. diagnosis of disease
3. development and manufacture of pharmaceutical or chemical products
4. teaching purposes, if the use means that the animal is killed, subjected to surgical operation, injection, or blood-letting, or if the animal is caused or risks being caused suffering, and
5. other similar purposes.
The definition of animal experiments also includes production of genetically modified animals
Since 2003, sample-based fishery surveys (test fishing to estimate stock densities of different speices) are included in the definition of laboratory animals in Sweden. It is reported seperately in the statistics.
| Year | EU definition | Swedish definition | Sample fishing | Swedish def incl sample fishing |
| 2012 | 262 209 | 982 842 | 4 552 616 | 5 535 458 |
| 2011 | 296 684 | 829 813 | 7 734 237 | 8 564 050 |
| 2010 | 413 447 | 1 313 513 | 6 636 483 | 7 949 996 |
| 2009 | 395 672 | 950 381 | 6 202 241 | 7 152 622 |
| 2008 | 501 499 | 1 030 163 | 5 776 550 | 6 806 713 |
| 2007 | 524 764 | 1 034 465 | 6 096 188 | 7 130 653 |
| 2006 | 532 685 | 758 213 | 6 653 651 | 7 411 864 |
| 2005 | 505 681 | 1 273 277 | 6 356 105 | 7 629 382 |
| 2004 | 446 936 | 1 005 480 | 7 065 550 | 8 071 030 |
More information
Swedish legislation on animal protection, animal experiments and more useful information is avaialble at Codex>>
The National Board of Agriculture is the government agency responsible for ensuring animal welfare in Sweden.
The Swedish Research Council is funding 3R:s research.
Animal Rights Sweden is the largest organization campaigning for animals in Sweden
Find out more about animal experiments and 3R:s in Sweden at djurforsok.se, a website provided by Swedish universities and the Research Council.
Senast uppdaterad: 7 mars 2016
