Document type : Press release from the French Senate
Author: Philippe Péjo
Preview: In a public session on 30 September, the Senate almost unanimously voted to adopt the bill to combat animal abuse and strengthen the bond between animals and humans. The senators made significant additions to the text before them and supported many of the improvements proposed by the Assemblée Nationale, while revising those articles that would cause problems in implementation so that the future Act could maximise its effectiveness.
The revised text resulting from the discussions in the Senate makes best use of the work carried out by those in the field by consolidating the position of groups that play a critical role outside the shelter system and introduces a seven-day cooling-off period before a pet can be taken home, which will significantly reduce the problem of impulse buying. It makes it easier to report acts of animal abuse, increases penalties for perpetrators and ensures better enforcement of sentences. Last, it introduces a forum for all stakeholders, including scientists, welfare groups and local government, to achieve improved practices in circuses and dolphinariums.
As proof of their wish to increase efforts to combat pet abandonment, the senators approved the inclusion of a strict framework for online pet sales which goes further than the proposal tabled by the government.
Deploying all the regulatory tools available to legislators, the rapporteur, Anne Chain-Larché, has given an assurance, from committee stage onwards, that every advert published will include a detailed list of useful facts for buyers, including those necessary to establish the legality of the sales offer. It will be the responsibility of each platform to check the information entered by sellers when publishing advertisements.
Continuing this work, at the initiative of the Committee on Economic Affairs, the Senate adopted an amendment in the public session that completes the framework of offers. For the rapporteur, "alongside the public authorities, the platforms must play their full role in the fight against fraudulent ads and trafficking. We wanted to enshrine this responsibility in the law.
Although the debates in the public session converged on the objective, the Senate and the Government were nevertheless opposed on the ambition: the committee defended - and obtained - a more extensive framework than that contained in the Government's amendment. The rapporteur said she was "very pleased that the Government has proposed today to reinforce the provisions voted by the Senate a week ago in committee. However, the Senate wanted to go even further, by authorizing ads for the sale of animals only on sites previously approved by the ministry and which undertake to comply with the specifications that it will have set. No control by the platforms, no publication: the actors will stick to it, especially since the main advertisement site is French. The argument of the lack of means of the administration is not acceptable: for things to change, it is necessary to have a real ambition which goes beyond the display".
Sophie Primas, President of the Economic Affairs Commission, welcomed this significant step forward in the fight against abandonment and trafficking. "We are going to work with the deputies and the government in preparation for the joint committee, to perfect this demanding and unprecedented system. We can discuss technical issues, such as the choice between an approval or a labeling of sites. But on this essential subject, there can be no quarrel of parochialism: the important thing is that this measure prospers. The Senate has rolled up its sleeves to finally bring about real change. It is now up to the deputies to seize this historic opportunity.
