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Transparency Agreement on animal research in Portugal

Updated: Mar 13

The Transparency Agreement on Animal Research in Portugal (Acordo de Transparência sobre Investigação Animal em Portugal) is a collaborative project by EARA and the Portuguese Society of Sciences in Laboratory Animals (SPCAL).


This is an initiative inspired by the Transparency Agreement in Spain, launched at 2016 where EARA co-operated with the Federation of Spanish Scientific Societies (COSCE) and by the UK Concordat on Openness on Animal Research.


The Portuguese Agreement, launched in 2018 during the SPCAL Congress held at the Minho University, has now 22 signatures including research centres and universities and from across the country. 


By signing up to the Portuguese Transparency Agreement, the signatories agree to the following obligations:

– Make a declaration concerning animal welfare on the Institution’s website. – Link to the Transparency Agreement. – provide adequate information to the media and the general public on the conditions under which animal research is carried out and the results obtained. – Develop initiatives that promote greater knowledge and understanding of society on the use of animals in scientific research. – Report on progress achieved on an annual basis and share experiences.


View all the organisations that have signed the agreement to date (correct December 2023):



With the Transparency Agreement, EARA and SPCAL aim to work together to foster a climate of openness around animal research in Portugal. The four commitments ensure that the Transparency Agreement is an actionable document, which signatories can use to guide their progress toward openness on animal research.


This agreement builds on work in Portugal that began in 2017. A number of Portuguese research institutes met to discuss how to improve the Portuguese public’s understanding and acceptance of animal research. At this meeting were representatives from the Faculty of Sciences and Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon, Nova Medical School Lisbon, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, the Instituto de Medicina Molecular and the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown. At the meeting EARA proposed to explore the possibility of developing a Transparency Agreement to guide efforts on openness on animal research in Portugal.


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