Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023
The Animals (Low-Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 came into force on 18th November 2023. The Act prohibits the sale and advertising of activities abroad which involve low standards of welfare for animals, such as those where animals are kept in captivity or confinement and/or are subjected to unnecessary suffering or low-animal welfare practices that would not be permitted in England or Northern Ireland under relevant domestic animal welfare legislation.
The Act itself does not directly apply bans; it provides a framework under which regulations can apply the prohibitions on the sale and advertisement to specific activities which are described in those regulations.
The Act contains purely domestic measures, aimed at reducing the visibility of specific low-welfare attractions to prospective tourists by limiting the sale and advertisement of them.
The following offence wording documents can now be found on PNLD:
- Sell / offer to sell / arrange to sell right to observe / participate in a low-welfare animal activity abroad – H101453.
- Print / cause to be printed a prohibited advertisement of a low-welfare animal activity – H101454.
- Publish / cause to be published a prohibited advertisement of a low-welfare animal activity – H101455.
- Distribute / cause to be distributed a prohibited advertisement of a low-welfare animal activity – H101456.
