Requirements for animal experiments and laboratory animal facilities
Below you will find information on animal experiments and laboratory animal facilities: legal framework, documents on the authorisation procedure, on training and continuing education for specialist staff, on the duty to report, and on the application animex-ch.
Animal experiments
Below you’ll find information needed to conduct animal experiments. Animal experimentation is any measure carried out on live animals for scientific purposes – for example to address scientific questions, test substances, or for teaching. This requires an animal experimentation authorisation (licence).
You can submit applications for approval of animal experiments via the application animex-ch.
Once your application has been received, the cantonal authority and the cantonal committee on animal experimentation will review it. If necessary they will clear up any unanswered questions with you, and the committee on animal experimentation will then submit a recommended decision. The decision is issued by the cantonal authority. The authorisation is valid for a maximum of three years.
The authorisation procedure is designed to ensure that animal experiments are only authorised if evidence can be provided that they are a suitable way of achieving the stated objective, that they are necessary, and that their expected benefit to society outweighs the harms to the animals.
Under the Animal Experimentation Ordinance, the pain, distress and suffering (‘strain’ or ‘constraint’) caused by interventions is classified into four severity degrees. During the authorisation procedure, an assessment is carried out to decide whether the benefit of the experiments justifies the animal welfare impact. The benefit to society must outweigh the harm to the animals.
Degree of severity 0
No constraint, e.g. observational studies in familiar housing environment with no preparatory treatment: interventions and procedures that do not subject the animals to any pain, suffering, harm or distress, and do not impair their general state of health.
Degree of severity 1
Slight or mild constraint, e.g. one-off blood collection from the tail vein in mice (max. recommended amount): interventions and procedures that cause slight pain or harm or slightly impair their general state of health.
Degree of severity 2
Moderate constraint, e.g. surgical interventions with temporary impairment: interventions and procedures that cause short-term moderate or medium- to long-term mild pain, suffering or harm, short-term moderate distress or short to medium-term severe impairment of their general state of health.
Degree of severity 3
Severe constraint, e.g. transplanting metastasising tumours: interventions and procedures that cause medium to long-term moderate pain or severe pain, long-term suffering, significant harm, lasting distress or severe impairment of their general state of health.
Humane endpoints and measures to reduce animal suffering are also key when categorising interventions and procedures performed on animals. Humane endpoints are a list of symptoms indicating that an animal must be euthanised or withdrawn from a study to prevent excessive suffering. Researchers set out in advance the action that will be taken to reduce animal suffering during the course of the experiment, and when an experiment must be terminated.
As of December 2025: on 1 February 2025, the revised Animal Welfare Ordinance and the Animal Experimentation Ordinance entered into force. Certain provisions are subject to transitional periods; other new provisions will only enter into force at a later date. The following new or amended provisions enter into force on 1 February 2026:
For the first time, by the end of February 2027, laboratory animal facilities will have to report in the HC form not only the number of animals bred/produced and imported, but also, in two new categories, the number of animals that were not used in an animal experiment and were either (a) supplied to third parties or (b) euthanised or that died (Art. 145 para. 1 let. b AniWO). In order to be able to report these figures correctly by the end of February 2027, the numbers of animals in the new categories must already be recorded from 1 January 2026 and counted in accordance with Art. 29 of the Animal Experimentation Ordinance.
The following applies:
in 2026, the changes will concern licensed laboratory animal facilities only. They must ensure that the correct data are recorded starting in January 2026. The following points should be noted:
Mice and rats must now be counted from the 9th day after birth. For all other animal species, the previously applicable provisions continue to apply; these are now consolidated in Art. 29 of the Animal Experimentation Ordinance. Animals considered as ‘supplied to third parties’ are live animals that (1) are not used in an experiment, (2) are not transferred to another authorised laboratory animal facility, and (3) are transferred to persons or institutions outside the laboratory animal facility, for example via placement in a private animal holding (rehoming).
‘Animals killed or that have died’ must always be counted in the laboratory animal facility in which they were killed or died.
As before: animals must be counted by species. Animals from strained lines must be reported separately for each strained line; animals from non-strained lines may be grouped by species, distinguishing between genetically modified and non-genetically modified animals (Art. 145 para. 1 let. b AniWO; Art. 29 para. 4 Animal Experimentation Ordinance).
For 2026, the FSVO is preparing the following, in cooperation with the cantons and with the laboratory animal facilities:
A revision of the explanatory notes to the HC form, which serve as guidance for the recording of statistical data in laboratory animal facilities (July 2026)
Specification of the changes in animex-ch (June 2026)
Training courses on completing the HC form (from September 2026)
For animal experiments you need to submit an application to the cantonal authority. A licence is only granted if all the authorisation requirements are met. Animals may only be subjected to pain and suffering if this is scientifically unavoidable and there are no alternatives. Any suffering must be kept to an indispensable minimum and measures must be put in place to reduce pain and distress. The cantons are responsible for issuing licences and for inspecting animal experiments and laboratory animal facilities.
You can submit applications via the application animex-ch.
You can use the forms in advance for training purposes or to prepare an application. Below you’ll find all templates and explanatory notes.
Forms, technical information and explanatory notes on animal experiments
Manual documents: Fact sheets on animal experiments
The documents below were drafted as part of the ‘Manual for the Enforcement of Animal Welfare Legislation’, a collaboration between the Swiss veterinary service at federal and cantonal level. Selected documents, which are not only geared towards those responsible for implementation, but also researchers, heads of laboratory animal facilities, animal welfare officers and animal experimentation committees, are published here after they have been approved by the Standing Committee on Animal Welfare.
Comprehensive legal requirements apply to the housing, breeding and care of laboratory animals.
Laboratory animal facilities require a licence from the cantonal authority and are inspected on a regular basis. Animals must be kept and cared for according to professional standards, and the facilities must meet the stipulated training and husbandry requirements.
Applications for laboratory animal facilities can be submitted using the animex-ch application.
Forms, technical information and explanatory notes on laboratory animal facilities
Production and breeding of genetically modified lines and mutants that have a clinical pathological phenotype
If you produce genetically modified animals, you can submit an application for simplified authorisation for breeding, provided recognised methods (Annex 1 Animal Welfare Ordinance) are used.
You need a special licence to breed animal lines with genetically-caused harmful phenotypes. If the severity assessment reveals harms, this must be reported to the cantonal authority and a licence must be applied for the breeding of these animals.
To produce genetically modified animals you can apply for a simplified licence, provided recognised methods are used in accordance with the Animal Welfare Ordinance (Annex 1). All other production methods require an animal experimentation licence.
For newly-generated genetically modified animals, a severity assessment must be carried out. If this reveals that animals will be subjected to pain, suffering and distress, this must be reported to the cantonal authority.
Animal lines in which genetically related harm, suffering, pain, distress or other harms occur may be kept only with a special licence and may be bred only under limited circumstances. In order to recognise lines with an pathological phenotype a severity assessment should be carried out. Relevant measures should be put in place to reduce the identified harms.
If the severity assessment reveals that animals in the line are subjected to harms, this must be reported to the cantonal authority. The report should include a description of the harms and the measures taken immediately to reduce them.
Report and notifications on animal experiments conducted
The FSVO publishes annual statistics on all experiments. They include all necessary details to assess the application of animal welfare legislation.
Those who conduct animal experiments are required to submit reports on each authorised experiment via the animex-ch information system. For experiments spanning multiple years, an interim report must be filed annually by the end of February on the experimental activity of the previous calendar year. Upon completion of an experiment — or at the latest upon expiry of the authorisation — a final report must be filed. Both reports include title, field, purpose of experiment, number of animals per species and the retrospectively classified degree of severity actually experienced by the animals. The FSVO publishes this information in the statistics on animal experimentation.
Researchers submit their reports and notifications electronically using the animex-ch application. If you do not yet have access to animex-ch, or authorisation procedures are conducted outside of the application, you can use the relevant forms.
If you do not yet have access to animex-ch, please contact the person responsible for your institute or the cantonal veterinary office.
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You’ll find instructions, videos and FAQs in the support section of animex-ch.
If you have problems, start by contacting the superuser in your institute. If they are unable to solve the problem, contact the cantonal veterinary service responsible for your institute.
If you encounter issues that cannot be resolved by the superusers at your institute or by the cantonal veterinary service, please report them the animex-ch helpdesk with complete screenshots:
Those who conduct animal experiments must possess the necessary knowledge, complete specific training and regularly attend continuing education courses. Animal care staff in laboratory animal facilities also need to be trained and undertake continuing education on an ongoing basis.
The training courses teach participants the key provisions of animal welfare legislation including the 3R principles, and the knowledge they need to conduct animal experiments. Training and continuing education ensure that professionals are always working in accordance with current scientific knowledge and that animal suffering is kept to a minimum. Additional requirements apply to heads of laboratory animal facilities.
Persons conducting animal experiments, study directors, heads of laboratory animal facilities and animal welfare officers
Anyone who conducts or leads animal experiments, as well as those who head a laboratory animal facility, must take part in a theoretical and practical training course that lasts several days. This course teaches participants about the requirements of animal welfare legislation and the relevant aspects for their roles (such as species-appropriate housing, humane handling, recognising and treating pain, and much more).
Every institute or laboratory must appoint an animal welfare officer. They check that animal experimentation licence applications are complete and coherent, and are responsible for ensuring that monitoring and termination criteria are defined, measures to reduce animal suffering are put in place, and that a harm-benefit analysis is drawn up. Animal welfare officers must have a university degree and have completed the training for study directors.
Laboratory animal care staff
Laboratory animals are mostly kept in licensed laboratory animal facilities. The competence of the staff taking care of the animals is therefore key to their welfare. The person who is responsible for animal care at a laboratory animal facility therefore must hold a Federal Vocational Education Animal Caretaker Diploma. They may also employ assistants and train them.
Recognition of training
The FSVO recognises FBAs (subject-specific training courses independent of professional background) and assesses the equivalence of training completed outside Switzerland. The cantonal veterinary office may, in individual cases, recognise other training if a person can demonstrate equivalent knowledge or has experience in an occupation with corresponding requirements.
A full list of the recognised training can be found on animex-ch.
After completing their training, study directors, animal welfare officers, heads of laboratory animal facilities and people who perform animal experiments must attend regular continuing education courses to keep their specialist knowledge up to date.
The cantonal veterinary office recognises continuing education courses in the field of animal experimentation. To ensure consistent assessment, the Association of Swiss Cantonal Veterinarians (VSKT) delegated the review of courses to an expert group consisting of employees from various veterinary services, and defined a joint procedure. This ensures consistent and equal application of animal welfare legislation and prevents duplication. A recommendation for recognition from the VKST is free of charge. A full list of the recognised continuing education can be found on animex-ch.
Application for non-public internal continuing education courses or for continuing education for individuals can be submitted directly to the competent cantonal veterinary office.
