Record-keeping requirements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and how to meet them

The new Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 has significant implications in terms of record keeping. In many designated establishments, however, most of the records are already collected as part of good working practice and the new Act merely formalizes this situation. Recording the required information may be tedious, but it can be carried out using either a paper-based system or its computerized equivalent. The new legislation imposes no additional record-keeping requirements on personal licence holders and the real burden falls on the project licence holder, particularly for large projects involving several personal licence holders. In the case of an animal house operating a computerized system, considerable assistance with project record keeping can be given by the designated establishment and project status reports will be very helpful in this respect. Computerization also enables automatic production of cage labels which ensures uniformity of labelling and compliance with the Home Office guidelines.