The EU Bans Great Apes From Lab Procedures

On 22 September 2010, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted Directive 2010/63/EU, a full rewrite of the bloc's rules on animals used in research. It replaced a 1986 directive that member states had applied unevenly for decades, and for the first time wrote the "3Rs" (replace, reduce, refine) into binding EU-wide law, alongside mandatory authorization and inspection of research projects. Article 8 barred the use of great apes in procedures outright, subject only to a narrow safeguard clause meant for extraordinary circumstances. The directive entered into force on 9 November 2010 and every EU country had to be applying it by 1 January 2013.