Photo: Igor Čoko

Civil society organizations Link Plus, Hope For Animals - Riska and Feniks have warned today, via a press release, that it is necessary for them to be included in the process of making changes and amendments to the Animal Welfare Law, beginning with the early stage of the process, in accordance with Guide for including Civil Society Organizations in the Regulative Making Process, as well as the latest EP resolution which states concerns about urgent adoption of laws, and includes a recommendation for the bigger involvement of the civil society in the process of EU integrations and regulative harmonization.

We consider that alteration of the Animal Welfare Law demands a broad consultative process, especially regarding the fact that the citizens have shown understanding and large interest in the subject of protecting animal welfare.

Thereby we demanded form the Veterinary Direction to provide us with the Draft of Law on Alterations and Amendments to the Animal Welfare Law, so we could provide our comments in time, but the answer we got is that the Draft was not adequate for discussion yet.

According to the information we have, there are changes to the regulations which regard pet animals and abandoned pets, even though that wasn't planned considering that every state of European Union regulates this area independently. Previously, the Veterinary Direction had informed us that there will be no changes to the section mentioned above.

It is obvious that there are some changes, and that the authorities do not want to have a dialogue with the civil sector. We are in contact with 25 organizations which wish to be included in the making of the new Animal Welfare Law, and together we have asked help from the Office for Cooperation with civil society.