Frequently Asked Questions

Secretary’s Animal Care and Ethics Committee’s Use Criteria

The Secretary’s ACEC is established to give effect to section 25A of the Animal Research Act 1985 (the Act), which states that “an individual may apply to the Secretary for an animal research authority.”

The ACEC is responsible for consideration of, and recommendations made in response to, applications from individuals to the Secretary for animal research authorities and animal supplier’s licence supervision. It ensures that all animal care and use for research and education by authority holders, and supply of animals by animal suppliers under its supervision, comply with the Act and the Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes.

Use Criteria:

1. The project must be undertaken in the State of NSW. Projects also being conducted interstate should seek approval from relevant State based Committee. Applications for projects that will also be conducted in States and Territories with no public facing committee will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Secretary’s ACEC.
2. The individual or organisation has not had an ARA cancelled due to non-compliance or been convicted under the Act or equivalent interstate legislation.
3. If the business is a corporation, they must be accredited in NSW as an Animal Research Establishment.
4. If the applicant is from an Accredited Research Establishment, that establishment employs less than ten employees involved in animal research and teaching activities and maintains ten or fewer concurrently approved projects.
5. Where the applicant undertakes remote work, monitoring of remote projects must be completed via reporting with provision of visual evidence as requested by the ACEC.
6. Applications will be subject to the Secretary’s ACEC fee schedule.
7. Applicants will be subject to risk-based monitoring of their fixed facilities at least triennially.
8. Users of the Secretary’s ACEC, the ACEC members and support staff maintain a mutual expectation of reasonable and fair treatment. Abusive or disrespectful behaviour will not be tolerated.  Where a user of the ACEC is unhappy with decisions, treatment, or processes of the ACEC, grievance procedures should be followed to investigate the matter in a professional, respectful, and transparent manner.

What will the Secretary’s ACEC no longer oversee?

1. Researchers employed by Accredited Research Establishments with more than ten employees involved in animal research and teaching activities and/or requiring more than ten projects approved concurrently.
2. Researchers who own or are employed by businesses that are not accredited but should be.
3. Researchers that have had the same, unchanged application rejected by other ACECs.

The new Use Criteria apply to all users.

Important Notes:

Projects currently under the oversight of the Secretary’s ACEC that involve interstate activities will remain under the oversight of the Committee until the project approval end date.

Accredited Research Establishments who currently use the Secretary’s ACEC but are large enough to form their own AEC under the new criteria may continue under their current formal sharing agreements but are encouraged to consider alternate options into the future, especially when considering their reaccreditation arrangements. Please email secretary.acec@dpird.nsw.gov.au for a discussion.

Your project as currently approved will continue to be overseen by the ACEC until the end of the project approval period.

Corporations are defined as businesses registered with ASIC and have an Australian Company Number (ACN). Under the NSW Animal Research Act 1985 (the Act), corporations that use animals in research and teaching in NSW must apply to Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) Compliance Systems & Accreditation Programs for Accreditation as an Animal Research Establishment. This includes government organisations such as local councils and government departments conducting research within NSW. Please note that wildlife surveys are considered animal research, so if your business is conducting wildlife surveys and has an ACN, the business is required to be accredited under the Act.

For further information on accreditation, please see the Animal Ethics Infolink or email bfs.admin@dpi.nsw.gov.au.

Accredited Research Establishments who currently use the Secretary’s ACEC but are large enough to form their own AEC may continue under their current formal sharing agreements but are encouraged to consider alternate options into the future.

Accredited Research Establishments who:

1. do not currently use the Secretary’s ACEC, and
2. were intending to approach the Secretary’s ACEC, and
3. are large enough to reasonably for their own AEC, OR
4. who currently use the Secretary’s ACEC but are large enough to form their own AEC and wish to make this change (for instance, at the time of reaccreditation as an Accredited Research Establishment), need to address this via their accreditation and can find useful information from:

You can apply to the Secretary’s ACEC for renewal of approval to conduct research in NSW. For research interstate, you will need to contact the relevant state agency to discuss if they have an equivalent Animal Ethics Committee to oversee research in that state.

In the future, the ACEC will request a Self-Audit Form be completed, and a short video to be recorded and submitted with the Annual Report. This will be requested for a selection of projects due for each meeting. You will be notified if your project has been selected. All projects will need to conduct a self-audit over a 3-year cycle.