European Convention for the Protection of Animals for Slaughter

The European Convention for the Protection of Animals for Slaughter, also known as the Slaughter Convention,[1][2] is an animal welfare treaty of the Council of Europe, adopted on 10 May 1979 in Strasbourg, and effective since 11 June 1982.

[3] It establishes ethical standards pertaining to animal slaughter, such as stunning.

Due to increased public awareness and debate about animal welfare in the 1960s, the Council of Europe became more concerned with the topic, and adopted a convention of minimum requirements for animal transport in 1968.

All these conventions were based on animal welfare recommendations resulting from the latest scientific research in applied ethology.

[3] The Slaughter Convention forms part of the core of European legislation concerning animal welfare, which also includes the European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes (1976, with its 1992 Protocol of Amendment), the European Convention for the Protection of Animals during International Transport (revised in 2003, replaced the 1968 original), the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals Used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes (1986, with its 1998 Protocol of Amendment; see also Directive 2010/63/EU), and the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals (1987).