Animal Ethics Policies, Procedures and Guidelines

Policies & Guidelines Governing Animal Research

Mandatory Legislation

• Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes (8th edition, 2013)
• ACT Animal Welfare Act 1992
  • Animal welfare laws in other Australian states and territories

ANU Policy

• Policy: Responsible Conduct of Research
• Procedure: Safety in animal houses

Australian Guidelines

• Best practice methodology in the use of animals for scientific purposes (NHMRC, 2017) 
• A guide to the care and use of Australian native mammals in research and teaching (NHMRC, 2014)
• Guidelines to promote the wellbeing of animals used for scientific purposes: The assessment and alleviation of pain and distress in research animals (NHMRC, 2008)

International Guidelines

• Grimace Scale Posters: a tool for assessing pain in rats, mice and rabbits (UK National Centre for 3Rs)
• Humane Endpoints in laboratory animal experimentation (3Rs-Centre Utrecht Life Sciences)
• Guidelines on choosing an appropriate endpoint in experiments using animals for research, teaching and testing (Canadian Council on Animal Care)
• International guiding principles for biomedical research involving animals (Council for International Organization of Medical Sciences and The International Council for Laboratory Animal Science, 2012)

Agreements with Other Institutions

In accordance with the Code, the University has research agreements in place with external institutions such as UNSW, ACT Health and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute to facilitate collaboration. If you are listed as a co-investigator on an external ethics protocol, or plan to use external facilities in your own research project, these agreements may cover you. For further information, please contact the Animal Ethics Team on animal.ethics@anu.edu.au