The gradual development of the EU’s competence in animal welfare law and policy

In the absence of an explicit legal basis for animal welfare in the EU’s constitutional treaties, the EU only has indirect authority to adopt animal welfare legislation. As a result, the EU has derived its competence to legislate on animal welfare from other fields of competence. However, the prima facie limited competence of the EU in enacting animal welfare legislation has not hindered the advancement of the interests of animals in EU law, as the EU legislature has succeeded in integrating animal welfare rules in legislation that would pursue dual objectives – usually market-based objectives and animal protection objectives. Beyond the discussions over the EU’s fields of competence, which are more political in nature than a call for legal developments, the EU’s action on animal welfare has been limited to sectoral regulatory action, by way of enacting stand-alone legislative acts that are disconnected from other broader legislation and policies. A more horizontal approach, whereby the EU legislature integrates animal welfare rules across all policies that affect the treatment of animals, would increase the effectiveness and coherence of EU animal protection efforts.