On February 8, 2024, the Paris Administrative Court issued ten rulings in favor of Transcience in the context of our association’s appeals against the Ministry of Higher Education and Research’s implicit refusal to revoke 10 project authorizations issued on the basis of the favorable opinion of animal experimentation ethics committees not approved at the time the authorization was issued.

In accordance with article R214-117 of the French Rural and Maritime Fishing Code (CRPM): ” all projects are subject to ethical assessment by an animal experimentation ethics committee approved by order of the Minister for Research “. The conditions to be met by the committee in order to be approved are set out in the same article. Article 1 of the Order of February 1, 2013 on ethical assessment and project authorisation involving the use of animals in experimental procedures lists the elements that must be included in the application for approval.

 

The following is an extract from the conclusions of the Paris Administrative Court:

” On the legality of the authorization granted :

10. Under the terms of article R. 214-122 of the French Rural and Maritime Fishing Code, “the performance of a project involving the execution of one or more experimental procedures is subject to obtaining an authorization granted by the Minister in charge of research under the conditions set out in article R. 214-123”. Article R. 214-123 of the same code stipulates that: “Authorization may only be granted to a project if it has undergone a favorable ethical evaluation.” Article R. 214-117 I of the same code stipulates that: “All projects are subject to an ethical assessment by an animal experimentation ethics committee approved by order of the minister in charge of research.”

11. It follows from the combination of these provisions that the Minister in charge of research may only authorize the carrying out of a project involving the performance of one or more experimental procedures after receiving the assent of an approved animal experimentation ethics committee. In the absence of such a duly issued assent, the Minister’s decision is vitiated by lack of jurisdiction.

12. It is common ground that, on the date the disputed authorization was issued, the ethics committee for animal experimentation CE … (editor’s note: registration number of the committee) had not yet been approved, so that it could not validly give an opinion. The decision by which the Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation authorized the project referenced NTS………. (editor’s note: registration number of the non-technical summary of project) is therefore vitiated by lack of jurisdiction and can, for this reason and without the need to rule on the other pleas in law of the petition, only be annulled, as well as, by way of consequence, the implicit decision to reject the informal appeal of the Transcience association. “.

 

Transcience had to choose between ten or so projects for which it requested the cancellation of authorizations, but in fact all authorizations issued since 2013 should have been cancelled. Between 2013 and early 2022 (the date on which the Ministry of Higher Education and Research began the approval process, as a matter of urgency), a total of 20,391 projects were authorized on the basis of favorable opinions from “non-competent” authorities.

This state of affairs reflects a serious failure on the part of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research to apply the regulations governing project evaluation research using animals. And it’s not the only one.

However, there can be no transition to non-animal research without project evaluation informed, impartial and transparent, for which it should be the guarantor.

Transcience – in accordance with its purpose – will continue its actions to enforce the law in favor of animals used for scientific purposes.

Update

In April 2024, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research appealed against the Paris Administrative Court’s February rulings, requesting in particular that the decisions to revoke the project authorizations under challenge be annulled.

The appeal was rejected by the Paris Court of Appeal in an order dated May 23, 2024, which concluded: “As a result of the foregoing, petition no. …. is manifestly unfounded and must be rejected in its entirety.