Maastricht University Animal Ethics Committee

As of December 2014, the amended Experiments on Animals Act (Wod) has entered into force. This has extended the role of the Animal Ethics Committees (DECs) from only reviewing proposals ethically to also reviewing them scientifically. The DEC-UM provides the Central Dutch Authority for Scientific Procedures on Animals (CCD) with formal advice upon request. For more information about the application procedure for a project license authorisation please visit the website of the CCD. Only the Central Dutch Authority (CCD) can grant licenses for scientific project proposals involving animal testing. 

Consulting process DEC-UM

Consulting process DEC-UM

1. The DEC-UM receives a formal request for advice for a (an amendment or extension to a previous) submitted project proposal.

2. The DEC-UM reviews the application in the upcoming plenary meeting.

3. The DEC-UM may have further inquiries with regard to the project proposal, which can be answered by the researchers in writing or in person (upon request by the DEC-UM.

4. If the DEC-UM questions have been answered sufficiently by the researcher(s), the DEC-UM will proceed to draft an advice for the CCD. If not, an additional round of questions will follow.

5. The DEC-UM submits its final advice and most recently received project proposal documents from the researcher(s) to the CCD. The researcher(s) will receive a notification from the DEC-UM (without the proposed advice to the DEC-UM). The role of the DEC-UM ends here.

6. The CCD decides if a license will be granted and will inform both the the mandated license holder of the UM and the researcher(s) about the final decision. The proposed advice of the DEC-UM will be sent along with the decision of the CCD.

Processing time

The legal processing time for granting a license to a submitted project proposal is 40 working days, which are equally divided between the DEC and the CCD unless it involves a ‘complex submission’. Upon receivement of the formal request for advice from the CCD along with the submitted project proposal documents (i.e. submission form, project proposal, appendice(s) and non-technical summary), the legal processing time for the DEC-UM to produce an advice will commence.

DEC-UM deadlines for researcher inquiry round(s)

The DEC-UM may have some questions with regard to the submitted project proposal, which may affect their proposed advice to the CCD. Therefore, the researcher(s) are given the opportunity to clarify their project proposals. If requested to be delivered in writing, the researcher is asked to uphold the following delivery deadlines:

 

Plenary meetings DEC-UM                                         Delivery deadlines for researcher(s): (no later than 23:59 hours)
27 January 2023 19 January 2023
24 February 2023 16 February 2023
24 March 2023 16 March 2023
21 April 2023 13 April 2023
26 May 2023 17 May 2023
23 June 2023 15 June 2023
14 July 2023 6 July 2023
25 August 2023 17 August 2023
22 September 2023 14 September 2023
27 October 2023 19 October 2023
24 November 2023 16 November 2023
22 December 2023 14 December 2023

Composition DEC-UM on 1 January 2021

Members Scientific focus Expertise Involved in animal research  Affiliated to the license holder
Member 1 (chair) Veterinary medicine VM;SA;D;P;HC I-NL Not affiliated
Member 2 Cardiology SA;D Involved Affiliated
Member 3 (vice-chair) Oncology SA;D;P Involved Affiliated
Member 4 Neurology D;SA;HC Involved Affiliated
Member 5 Pulmonology SA;D Not involved Not affiliated
Member 6 Ethics E;SA;D;HC Not involved Not affiliated
Member 7 Biomaterials SA;D;HC Involved Not affiliated
Member 8 Pharmacology/Toxicology SA;D;HC Not involved Not affiliated
Advisor   Chair Animal Welfare Body (IvD) Involved Affiliated
Secretary     Not involved Affiliated

Abbreviations: SA = the scientific research areas and applications implementing animal testing, taking into account replacement, reduction and refinement on the scientific focus; D = design of animal tests, including statistical aspects; VM = veterinary medicine practice in context of research or wild-life animals; HC = housing and caring of animals applied in research; E = ethics; P = protection of research animals; NI = not involved in animal testing; NI-NL = not involved in animal testing within the Netherlands;