One step closer to opening up animal experiments
On 1 September 2026 we reported the great news that we had made substantial strides in our efforts to open up animal experiments to public scrutiny.
A specially-convened panel of three Upper Tribunal judges agreed with us that section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, which prohibits the Home Office from disclosing information animal researchers give it in confidence (which in practice is everything), could not stand with Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 10 deals with freedom of expression, and caselaw has ruled that that extends to requiring public bodies to disclose information which the public has a legitimate interest in seeing. We won several subsidiary points as well.
What happens next
We have now been given permission to take our fight to the Court of Appeal, which sits just below the Supreme Court, to ask for appropriate remedies to force the Home Office finally to open up how it licenses animal experiments. We believe that greater transparency should lead to a substantial reduction in the number of experiments.
The Home Office along with the Information Commissioner will be trying to reverse the gains we made at the Upper Tribunal.
We hope that the appeal will be heard sometime in 2027.
Challenging secrecy surrounding animal experiments
Freedom of Information is one of our key areas of work in our mission to end animal testing. By challenging secrecy and pressing for greater transparency, we can expose how decisions about animal experiments are made, strengthen public scrutiny and help bring about lasting change for animals.
Published 9 November 2026
