Frequency of animal ethics committee meetings
The following policy has been drafted in response to questions about meeting frequency requirements from AECs that consider only a small number of projects a year.
Policy
The Australian Code of Practice for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes states (Clause 2.2.13): 'Meetings should be held at least quarterly to allow interaction of AEC members and effective functioning of the AEC'.
Explanatory Notes
1. AEC meetings must be scheduled at least four times a year. However, there may be exceptional circumstances where a meeting may not actually take place.
2. Exceptional circumstances where a face to face meeting may not occur would be:
- where the AEC has insufficient business to justify a full meeting
- where an alternative arrangement is made such as a telephone hook up
- all AEC members, particularly the non-institutional members, are given the opportunity to discuss any issues of concern.
3. Where there are no projects to consider, the AEC should use the opportunity to carry out its other duties (as described in clause 2.2 (2.2.1 - 2.2.48 of the Australian Code of Practice for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes). These include:
- inspections of facilities, animals and procedures
- animals or procedures
- discussion of general and ethical issues and policies such as increased use of alternative methods to improve communication between AECs, staff researchers or teachers, such as the holding of information sessions
- a review of the functioning of the committee and its resources
- discussion of any other business considered by any of the AEC members to be important
Animal Research Review Panel Policy 12