Executive Summary
Since the API was first published, it is very positive that China has announced a ban on the domestic ivory trade in 2015, which was implemented in 2017. The Law on the Protection of Wildlife has also been amended in 2017. The law further separates captive breeding from natural conservation and slightly tightened regulation on wildlife use. It is encouraging that the Chinese Veterinary Medical Association, under instruction by the Ministry of Agriculture, has drafted General Principles of Animal Welfare. These will be non-binding guidelines on the welfare of various categories of animals, including farm animals, and will include issues such as infrastructure, feeding environment and health. In 2017, these Guidelines were approved by the National Animal Husbandry Standardisation Technical Committee and are now under review by the Ministry of Agriculture. Furthermore, it is positive that humane slaughter is now legally required for pigs and, in the Shandong province, for poultry. Progress has also been made in regulations focusing on companion animals. The Nation’s Rabies Prevention Control Plan (2017-2020) lays out specific requirements for vaccinations, monitoring, epidemic surveys and education against rabies. At the municipal level, cities also enacted companion animal regulations mandating vaccination and microchipping of dogs. In addition, the fact that China has ended animal testing requirements on post-market cosmetics is a step forward eliminating the practice of animal testing on cosmetics. China has already stopped animal testing for domestically produced cosmetics. Legislation relating to animals used in experiments is very progressive by comparison to other categories of animals, since it requires that those involved in laboratory animal work must love and protect animals and shall not disrespect or abuse animals. In early 2020, to combat the spread of Covid-19, the Chinese Government introduced a full ban on the trade of wildlife. Later in addition, the legislation body made a decision (equivalent to a law) to complete ban the hunting, trade, captive-bred and transport of terrestrial wild animals for consumption as well as the eating of captive-bred wild animals. Illegal wildlife trade enforcement and punishment are also escalated to the highest level. Wild animals used for other purposes such as scientific research, medicine and exhibition are required to go under strengthened inspection and quarantine to regulate the trade. Further wildlife trade regulation will be launched and enforced strictly by the State Council and related departments.
The main relevant legislations for animal welfare in China are the Animal Husbandry Law of the People’s Republic of China (amended in 2015), which is only applicable to livestock and poultry production standardisation, and the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife which focuses on conserving endangered wildlife species. An overall piece of legislation solely focused on animal welfare protection is still missing. The Husbandry Law contains minimal welfare requirements, mandating that livestock and poultry farms provide suitable conditions for the breeding, survival and growth of the animals. Animal cruelty is not banned by a stand-alone law; rather, animals receive limited protection in terms of being considered a food source, through penalties related to property damage or food poisoning. Moreover, the Wildlife Protection Law allows for the commercial breeding of endangered wildlife, through a permit system. Since the Law focuses on species protection, individual wild animals under state protection may still be consumed and traded for several legally permitted purposes. Many categories of animals in China still lack legal protection, such as stray animals, draught animals and those used for recreational purposes. Furthermore, it is still compulsory for some imported products to be tested on animals before being given licences for sale in China.
Animal welfare is not formally part of the remit of any Ministry in China. However, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Forestry and Grasslands Administration and the Ministry for Housing and Urban-Rural Development have produced guidelines referring to animal welfare. Assigning responsibility and accountability for animal welfare to a Ministry, and to a dedicated animal welfare unit, would be an essential improvement in the governance scheme of animal welfare.
The Government of China is strongly encouraged to enact the General Principles of Animal Welfare. Moreover, building upon the example of legislation for animals used in research, the Government of China is encouraged to enact a stand-alone animal welfare legislation, recognising animal sentience and laying out detailed welfare requirements for various species of animals, in line with the OIE international standards. The Government is also encouraged to remove the permit system allowing the captive breeding, commercial trade and consumption of wildlife or wildlife-derived products. Further legal and policy recommendations are associated with each indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report. Further legal and policy recommendations are associated with each Animal Protection Index (API) indicator and contained in the relevant sections of this report.
Taiwan, China has its own animal welfare legislation which has not been assessed as part of the 2020 Animal Protection Index. The assessment and grade in this report refers to mainland China legislation only.