Accreditation and licensing

Revised: 26 October 2010

The Animal Research Act (1985) requires that all applications for Accreditation as an Animal Research Establishment and for Licence as an Animal Supplier are referred to the Animal Research Review Panel for consideration.

There are two components in the assessment of applicants by the Panel:

The consideration of a written application to determine whether the applicant is complying with a number of fundamental requirements of the legislation.
The evaluation of the applicant on site inspection.

Evaluation of written applications

All applications are initially assessed by staff of the Animal Welfare Unit of Industry and Investment NSW. The assessment is based on criteria developed by the Panel and drawn from the animal research legislation.

Considerations include whether the Animal Ethics Committee is properly constituted, whether its procedures are adequate, whether it is meeting frequently enough to deal with the volume of work and whether it is conducting inspections of animals being used in projects and facilities which it supervises. The suitability of accommodation for the type and number of animals held is also assessed.

Recommendations on the applications are made by the Animal Welfare Unit to the Animal Research Review Panel. The Panel considers these recommendations and advises the Director-General of Industry and Investment NSW on whether applications should be approved and on what conditions.

The Director-General considers the Panel's recommendations and makes a determination on the applications.