Animal experimentation licenses

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	The Study Director (or another scientist from the group) writes the application in the CPG version of Form A and sends it for review to the Animal Welfare Officers ([email protected]). When the revision process is completed, the SD uploads the license into ANIMEX-CH and informs the Animal Welfare Officers (AWOs) that the application is ready to be submitted. The AWOs submit the application further to the Cantonal Veterinary Office (DGAV).
	The DGAV reviews the application and may ask questions. In case of questions, the SD sends the draft version of his answers to the AWOs. Once agreed upon, the answers are uploaded in ANIMEX by the SD who then notifies the AWOs that the answers are ready to The AWOs submit the answers to the DGAV.
	When deemed satisfactory, the DGAV dispatches the application to the CEA for a further ethical review.
	The CEA sends questions via ANIMEX to the SD. The SD sends the draft answers to the AWOs for review. Once agreed upon, the answers are then uploaded in ANIMEX by the SD who then notifies the AWO that the answers are ready to submitted. The AWOs submit the answers to the CEA.
	The CEA sends its recommendations to the DGAV.
	The DGAV announces its decision by issuing the license (Form B). This form contains the authorized number of animals, the validity of the license, and it may contain conditions and requirements (ex: modifications of the model, interim report to be submitted, visits of experiments/specific procedures, …).
	After the Form B is issued, the FSVO may exercise its “veto” during one month (“federal appeal”). Consequently, the experiments accepted by the DGAV can only start after the end of the appeal period.

When conducting an animal experiment, a written record shall be kept for each animal or group of animals. (Art. 144, AWO). This record should encompass the following points:

1. Start of experiment (date), species, number, sex, origin, and identification of animals and designation of experimental group:
2. Experiment-related aspects, such as surgical procedures/interventions and measures on the animals;
3. Animal welfare-oriented aspects, such as frequency of monitoring animals;
4. Systematic record of clinical symptoms;
5. Anesthesia, analgesia and premature discontinuation of experiment;
6. Category of strain to which each animal was exposed;
7. Adverse/special events;
8. Evaluation of experiments and usefulness of results;
9. End of experiment (date).

The records shall:

1. Be open to scrutiny based on labelling of cages or identification of animals;
2. Be available to the enforcement agencies at all times;
3. Be kept for three years after the license has expired.

The study director needs to fill reports (Report AC) on animal usage for each authorized license through the ANIMEX web application. A report is submitted for each calendar year (interim report) and at the latest 2 months after the expiry of the license (final report). The Animal Welfare Officers review the reports before submission to the cantonal authorities.

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Main points reported in the Report AC:

• Number of animals used;
• Retrospective severity degree experienced by the animals;
• A summary of obtained results:
• Justification for the unforeseen events (for example: animals found dead, DG3)
• List of (planned) publications, incl. potential patents.

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Important information:

The annual submission of Reports AC for animal experimentation performed in 2025 is approaching and has to be filled in ANIMEX-CH by January 31^st 2026, at the latest.

For this please:

• Carefully check PyRAT and make sure that all the corrections related to the “Breeding License” are made before December 31st 2025 as after this date, this license will be closed.
• Fill in PyRAT the genotypes of ALL the animals generated (including the pups and euthanised ones). If animal/pup genotype is unknown please indicate N/A.
• Proceed directly online, through ANIMEX-CH, then save, validate and notify [email protected] once the report is available for review and further submission to the Cantonal Vet Authorities.

We are organising an information session to help you with the submission process via ANIMEX-CH and answer all your questions regarding how to retrieve information on PyRAT.

Register to the information session Tuesday January 13th 2026 13.00-14.00 in Ai 1 153

PDF of the presentation: How to use PyRAT and ANIMEX-CH for your AC report.

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Deadlines:

For interim annual report: January 31^st to report animals used in the previous calendar year (internal deadline).

For final report: at the maximum two months after the expiry of the license.

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Published Data by the Federal Food Safety & Veterinary Office (FSVO)

After the license expires, the FSVO will publish some of the information reported in the Form A and reports AC:

• Title of the license and field of study (respectively from Sections 05 and 15 of the Form A)
• Purpose of the experiment (from Section 16 for the Form A)
• Number of animals used per species and retrospective severity degree experienced by the animals (from Point 9 of the Form A and Point 11 of the Reports AC)

The ANIMEX-CH online application is the replacement of e-tierversuche (e-TV), used to manage applications, licenses, reports, GM datasheets (Form D), invalidating phenotype notifications, continuing education and training records, and announcements related to animal experiments.

Conditions and modalities for system use are defined and fixed in the Ordinance on the computer system management of experimental animals (O-SIGEXPA, RS455.61).

The access to the system is limited to persons that are in charge of the redaction of the applications, in general for each research group a study director and deputy study directors are designated.

Access to ANIMEX-CH is subjected to an agreement. Information and user guides are available on the FSVO dedicated website.

If you need access to ANIMEX-CH, please contact [email protected].

[email protected]