Overview

In a number of circumstances, particularly in the livestock and fishing industries, the law treats practices that cause suffering to animals (confinement, mutilation, deprivation, etc.) not as reprehensible acts, but as routine practices deemed necessary to meet economic imperatives. This conference will highlight how economic law in Europe supports, and even encourages, through its various branches (corporate law, consumer law, financial law, competition law, tax law, international trade law, labor law, etc.), the exploitation—which can be cruel—of animals. While shining a spotlight on animal welfare, the conference will also serve as an opportunity to identify, within the current functioning of economic law, a number of factors that also contribute to environmental destruction and violations of fundamental rights. Taking a more forward-looking approach, the speakers will also identify the legal techniques to be employed in order to make economic law a potentially very powerful lever for improving the treatment of animals within the context of the European Union. The conference is aimed at researchers and practitioners interested in the potential of economic law to address the challenges of our time, as well as animal law specialists exploring concrete ways to improve the welfare of animals.