We all depend on animals in some way – for shaping landscapes and invigorating rural areas, for companionship, assistance, leisure, and for food. The animals that play a central role in Europe’s agriculture and food systems deserve to be given the best care. But no matter how well we care for our animals, they can still get sick and may need medicines. But treating sick animals is just one part of good animal husbandry.

Advances in animal health care are helping farmers and veterinarians to ensure better animal welfare, improved disease prevention and resilience, and earlier diagnosis through digital monitoring tools mean that farmers can take action to prevent illness before it takes hold.

At AnimalhealthEurope we believe the future vision for agriculture and food should include access to and training on how best to utilise the full animal health toolkit, and no restrictions should be placed on the preventive use of vaccines. The future EU Biotech Act can also play a role in unlocking possibilities to improve the health and welfare of animals. All this can facilitate better animal husbandry and improve overall animal health and wellbeing, contributing to a healthier, more resilient, and more sustainable animal agriculture.

Concretely, we have five recommendations:

Establish an Animal Disease Preparedness Dialogue

• We call for an animal disease preparedness dialogue coupled with a rapid alert and response mechanism, to ensure necessary vaccines can be developed and made available as quickly as possible when and where necessary.

Boost Animal Disease Prevention via Vaccination

• We urge the EU to finance and promote animal vaccination, and to eliminate trade barriers associated with vaccination, so that farmers can be assured that protecting their animals is not penalised in any way.

Adapt the EU Regulatory Framework for Emerging Threats

• We recommend that the Commission revise Delegated Regulation 2023/361 on the prevention and control of certain listed diseases, in particular as regards the flexibility of the list of priority diseases to meet with the ever-evolving situation.

Simplify the Approval of Animal Health Products for Enhanced Availability

• We suggest that the Commission further streamline the authorisation procedures for animal health products through a fully functional and centralised Union Product Database to ensure products are easily accessible to farmers and veterinarians.

Maintain a Consistent Benefit-Risk Approach for Medicines Authorisations

• We call on the Commission to consider the effects of environmental and chemical legislation on animal health products and to provide appropriate exemptions to support continued good animal husbandry.