[Legal consideration of permit issuance under Article 11 par. 1 no. 3 letter(d) of the German Animal Welfare Act]

Abstract

The article looks at the legal situation concerning the permission for commercial activities with animals due to Article 11 par. 1 no.3 (d) of the German Animal Welfare Act, in particular in combination with activities at changing places. Regardingly the German legislator has recently (especially since 1998) started to approach the problems of animal welfare by adopting specific regulations, e. g. by enacting an obligation to inform the authority of the planned change of place of activity. Currently the legislator discusses an extension of the enabling act for an ordinance by the Federal Government on the central register for circusses. Standardized data collection and transmission shall contribute to an effective control of the companies' compliance with animal welfare law. Article 11 par. 2a of the German Animal Welfare Act is an important regulation concerning activities at changing places. It allows to combine the permission with time limits, conditions and impositions of duties. Such collateral clauses can be set down to keep an animal stock book or--in a wider sense--a documentation of the company's activities to guarantee an effective control by the authority. In the case of American rodeo shows it is to mention that collateral clauses to introduce more animal welfare are imposed by the local authorities responsible for the area where the shows will take place rather than by the authority which actually has given the permission. The authorities have to distinguish subsequent collateral clauses or directives on one hand and the revocation of the permission on the other hand, since in this case the requirements are more strict. The recent preliminary judicial decisions of the administrative courts concerning this legal problem are contradictory so that they cannot serve as a guideline for the authorities.