Research involving animals

For ETH Zurich, the responsible treatment of animals is both a tenet of ethical conduct and a precondition for research involving animal experiments. The ETH Zurich Executive Board undertakes to demand and ensure that its research groups comply with the laws in force in Switzerland. To this end, it has adopted the ETH Zurich Policy on Animal Experimental Research.

The Swiss Animal Welfare Act definition of animal experiments covers experiments on living animals to investigate, for example, a scientific hypothesis, the consequences of a particular procedure or the effect of a substance. Teaching and training or further education courses using animals or the removal of cells, organs or body fluids from animals are also considered animal experiments.

The Swiss Animal Welfare Act is implemented by the Animal Welfare Ordinance and the Animal Experimentation Ordinance. These also stipulate how genetically modified laboratory animals are to be kept.

Persons who conduct or manage animal experiments must have basic academic training as specified in the Ordinance on Animal Protection, complete a compulsory training course and regularly attend further education events (4 days per 4 years). Those who conduct experiments may only work independently with laboratory animals if they have attended an introductory course in laboratory animal science or a corresponding course abroad and are recognised by the cantonal veterinary office.

If you are planning a research project involving animals, you need a valid licence to conduct animal experiments. To obtain this, you must apply to the cantonal veterinary office via animex-ch, the electronic animal experiment management system. Your application must describe in detail the experimental objectives, the experimental design and any distress to the animals caused by the planned actions or interventions. In addition, the application must weigh up the hoped-for gain in knowledge against the expected distress to the animals.

Once the experiment has been completed, or at the end of the calendar year, the licence holder must report via animex-ch to the cantonal veterinary office on the trials conducted and the animals used.

Overall responsibility lies with the licence holder. Those who manage or carry out experiments are responsible for implementing the animal welfare requirements.

ETH Zurich Animal Welfare Officers
Animal Welfare Office and 3R