The EU's Legislation for Animals Protection: The Pets Fur Ethical and Regulatory Issues

Abstract

The pets fur regulation provides an illuminating case study on the European Union’s approach to animal welfare. The regulation highlights a number of deficiencies, namely enforcement issues and the ineffectiveness of the European Union in legislating on ethical grounds. Using the fragmentation of the internal market as a basis for the introduction of legislation in the prohibition of the marketing, production, import or export of the pets fur, the European Commission successfully overcame the limits of EC Treaty when it came to legislating for animal welfare in the European Union.