Animal testing and alternative methods:the principles of Directive No.63/2010

The paper examins the principle of animal welfare and the 3R principle incorporated in the directive 2010/63. The directive establishes that principles of replacement, reduction, refinement should be applied in strict compliance with the hierarchy of the obligation to use alternative methods. This hierarchy means that, since the only principle that allows a true introduction of alternative methods is the principle of total replacement, the principles of the 3R’s can no longer be considered of equal rank. For this paradigm shift, a very important role in ensuring the correct control and application of the 3R principle is played by the competent authority responsible for issuing project authorizations. The administrative authority, before analyzing a project that includes animals, must verify whether an alternative method exists. The Directive 2010/63 introduced rules that have the purpose of favouring more transparency and circulation of information, coherent with the experiments. The idea of the directive is to impose the obligation of publicity on certain documents, the most important of which are the non-technical summaries of projects