The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) has officially promulgated amendments to Articles 2, 6, and 6-1 of the "Regulations for the Establishment and Management of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees or Panels," aiming to strengthen the operation and follow-up improvement mechanisms of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) within scientific animal application institutions. Key amendments include explicitly specifying that an IACUC shall designate a convener, strengthening the supervisory responsibilities of the competent authorities of target businesses, and stipulating that institutions rated "Poor" in the annual on-site audit shall not have new applications for scientific animal use approved by their IACUCs prior to passing an on-site re-inspection, thereby safeguarding laboratory animal welfare.
The MOA stated that pursuant to Article 16 of the Animal Protection Act, institutions conducting scientific animal applications shall establish an IACUC to review and supervise scientific animal applications within the institution, as well as oversee laboratory animal care and management. This amendment explicitly requires the head of an institution to designate one IACUC member as the convener to soundly develop the committee’s operation. Additionally, it stipulates that if an IACUC fails to perform its statutory duties in accordance with regulations and fails to make improvements within a prescribed period, its target business competent authority may take such non-compliance into reference for subsidies, audits, or other administrative management measures, thereby strengthening the joint supervision mechanism across target business competent authorities.
The MOA explained that as of the end of July 2026, there are 174 scientific animal application institutions in total. The ministry conducts at least 60 on-site audits annually, with evaluation results classified into four levels: "Excellent," "Good," "Fair," and "Poor." Under the current system, written reviews of improvements are conducted for institutions rated "Poor," and they are prioritized for audit in the following year. This amendment adds a requirement that for institutions rated "Poor" in an on-site audit, before completing improvements and passing an on-site re-inspection, the institution's IACUC shall not approve new applications for scientific animal applications submitted by users, thereby urging such institutions to implement improvements to balance scientific research needs with laboratory animal welfare.
