In 2020, the Commission started a process to update and modernise the EU animal-welfare legislation. One important milestone was the publication of the Fitness Check, which evaluated current legislation covering farm welfare, welfare during animal slaughter, and welfare during animal transport.
In 2021, the Commission responded positively to the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) "End the Cage Age", announcing plans to propose legislation to ban cages for the animal species and categories covered by the ECI.
In 2022 and 2023, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) adopted several scientific opinions to aid in modernising these laws, by providing scientific and technical evidence on animal welfare (see below “Actions taken during the previous Commission”).
When drafting new laws, the Commission considers this updated evidence alongside socio-economic and environmental impacts, as shown through thorough impact assessments.
In 2023, the Commission adopted a proposal to update the regulation on animal transport and a proposal for the first EU regulation on the welfare and traceability of dogs and cats. Following the interinstitutional negotiations, the new Regulation on the welfare of dogs and cats and their traceability has been formally adopted by the Council and the European Parliament in 2026.
In 2025, the Commission published its Vision on Agriculture and Food, announcing a phase of consultation and impact assessment on the revision of on-farm animal welfare rules. In July 2026, the Commission published the EU Strategy on Livestock, setting out a roadmap for a sustainable, competitive and resilient livestock sector, in which it sets out more concrete steps for the animal welfare revision.
Transport and dog & cat welfare – 2023 legislative proposals and interinstitutional negotiations
Proposed measures on transport will improve the wellbeing of the 1.6 billion animals transported annually across and from EU borders. They will update the current rules – which are more than 20 years old – addressing their technical and administrative limitations for better enforcement.
The legislative proposal is being examined by the co-legislators, the European Parliament and the Council.
New rules will introduce uniform EU standards for the welfare and traceability of dogs and cats. For the first time, there will be consistent rules for breeding, housing, handling and reproduction in breeding establishments, pet shops, shelters and foster homes. The rules will also strengthen existing provisions to combat illegal trafficking.
In November 2025, the co-legislative reached a provisional agreement on the new rules of the welfare of dogs and cats. The new Regulation was formally adopted and signed by the European Parliament and by the Council in June 2026 and will soon be published in the Official Journal of the European Union..
Vision on Agriculture and Food (2025)
The Vision for Agriculture and Food was adopted on 19 February 2025, building on the recommendations by the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture.
As outlined in the vision document, the Commission announced its intention to engage closely with farmers, the food supply chain and civil society, and, based on these exchanges, to propose further revision to existing EU animal welfare legislation, including the phasing out of cages.
The Commission also announced its intention to pursue, in line with international rules, a stronger alignment of animal-welfare standards applied to imported animals and food.
This revision will be based on the latest scientific evidence and consider the socio-economic impact on farmers and the agri-food chain. It will include support and tailored transition periods for specific species.
The Vision also mentions that the Commission will consider targeted labelling in relation to animal welfare to address societal expectations.
On-farm animal welfare – call for evidence, public consultation and impact assessment (2025-2026)
Following the announcement made in the Vision on Agriculture, the Commission launched an impact assessment for a revision of EU’s on-farm welfare legislation. As a first step, between 18 June and 16 July 2025, the Commission ran a call for evidence regarding on-farm animal welfare to seek input from citizens, businesses, NGOs and other stakeholders to help revise EU animal welfare legislation. More than 700 responses were received.
The Commission, supported by an external contractor, has conducted various general and targeted consultations to contribute to the assessment of animal welfare, economic, social and environmental impacts of possible options, including tarted stakeholder surveys and interviews, workshops, and consultations through the EU Animal Welfare Platform (see meetings in 2025 and 2026).
These consultation steps include a public consultation regarding on-farm animal welfare for certain animals, which ran from September to December 2025, gathering more than 190 000 contributions from citizens, farmers, businesses, national and regional authorities, NGOs and other interested parties. The results indicate strong support for transitioning to cage-free farming and applying equivalent welfare standards to imported food. Businesses and associations are calling for clearer and more consistent EU rules to ensure fair conditions for farmers across all Member States. The full factual summary report is available on the consultation web page and will feed into the Commission’s work in the coming months
EU Livestock Strategy
Taking into account the outcome of these consultations, in the Livestock Strategy adopted on 7 July 2026, the Commission announced its intention to propose:
- by the end of 2026, a targeted revision of the animal welfare rules for laying hens and broilers, with a focus on phasing out cages, practical on-farm welfare indicators, ending the systematic killing of male chicks, and introducing WTO compliant equivalent import requirements.
- by the second quarter of 2027, a targeted revision of animal welfare rules for pigs, including the transition from crates to pen systems, practical on-farm welfare indicators, and introducing WTO compliant equivalent import requirements.
Actions taken during the previous Commission (2020-2024 )
The Farm to Fork Strategy adopted by the Commission on 20 May 2020 announced that the Commission will revise the animal welfare legislation to align it with the latest scientific evidence.
The preparatory work under the Farm to Fork Strategy concerned a revision the following pieces of legislation: the Directive on the protection of animals kept for farming purposes, four Directives laying down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens, broilers,pigs and calves; and the Regulations on the protection of animals during transport and at the time of killing. In addition, the preparatory work dealt with a possible new legislation on animal welfare labelling.
In 2021, based on the preliminary findings of the evaluation of the current legislation ("Fitness check"), the Commission published an Inception Impact Assessment Roadmap presenting the policy options envisaged for an Impact Assessment.
A public consultation was held from 15 October 2021 to 21 January 2022 to gather views and experience of citizens and stakeholders on the fitness of the current rules and on how they could be improved. See the factual summary report of the 5 9281 contributions received.
In September 2022, the Fitness Check was concluded. Its results, presented in a Commission Staff Working Document, confirms the need to revise and modernise the EU animal welfare legislation, and provides a good basis for this revision.
Based on mandates from the Commission, EFSA has published Scientific Opinions on the welfare at farm of broilers; of calves; of pigs; of laying hens; of dairy cows; of ducks, geese and quails (when it comes to their housing conditions); as well as the welfare during transport of pigs, bovines, equids, small ruminants and animals transported in containers.
In 2021, the Commission sent a roadmap to EFSA summarising indicatively the animal welfare mandates it plans to send to EFSA for scientific opinions to be delivered between 2022 and 2028.
In addition, EFSA adopted a scientific Report on the welfare of cats and dogs in commercial breeding establishments. Later, EFSA worked on European Commission mandates concerning the welfare at farm of beef cattle, of turkeys, of equines, and of fur animals, with these mandates being delivered as of 2025.
The European Commission has asked two of the voluntary initiatives of the EU Platform on Animal Welfare to provide them support on possible elements to improve the welfare of equids and pets in the updated EU animal welfare legislation. Please see the produced recommendations.
In 2022, the Commission established 6 subgroups under the EU Animal Welfare Platform, on the welfare at farm of pigs, of poultry, of dairy cows and calves, the welfare during transport, the welfare at the time of killing, and on animal welfare labelling, to provide input and views in the context of the Commission’s preparatory work. These subgroups held a series of meetings in 2022 and 2023, the minutes of which are published.
In 2022, the Commission published a fact-finding study on animal welfare labelling.