| IN THE ANIMAL PROTECTION LAW LAW ON AMENDMENT Law No. 7527 Acceptance Date: 30/7/2024 ARTICLE 1- The phrase “on condition that human, animal and environmental health are taken into consideration” has been added after the phrase “Purpose of the Law” in the first paragraph of Article 1 of the Animal Protection Law No. 5199 dated 24/6/2004 ARTICLE 2 – Subparagraphs (f) and (j) of the first paragraph of Article 3 of Law No. 5199 have been changed as follows and the phrase “and the animals will be rehabilitated ” in subparagraph (k) has been changed as “the animals are housed and rehabilitated until they are adopted “.“f) Stray animals: Pets other than owned animals,”“j) Owned animal: Pets that are owned by a person, organization, institution or legal entity, that are cared for, vaccinated, and periodically health checked, and that are registered in the Ministry’s database,” ARTICLE 3 – Clause (b) of the first paragraph of Article 4 of Law No. 5199 has been repealed, the phrase “looking after or looking after animals” in clause (d) has been changed to “adopting animals”, and the phrase “protecting weakened animals” in clause (j) has been changed to “caring for animals until they are adopted”. ARTICLE 4- The phrase “except for the cases stipulated in the Animal Health Police Law No. 3285” in the first paragraph of Article 6 of Law No. 5199 has been changed to “except for legal exceptions”, the phrase “that may occur to the environment” in the third paragraph has been changed to “that may occur for human and environmental health”, the phrase “Ministry of Environment and Urbanization” has been changed to “Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change”, the last sentence of the fourth paragraph has been changed to the following and the phrase “looking after or looking after animals” in the sixth paragraph has been changed to “adopting animals by establishing an animal shelter”.“Animals taken to shelters are registered in the Ministry’s data system and rehabilitated dogs are housed in animal shelters until they are adopted.” ARTICLE 5- The phrase “Killing” in the title of the Fourth Section of the Second Part of Law No. 5199 has been changed to “ Euthanasia ” and the title of its 13th article has been changed to “ Euthanasia of animals ”, the following paragraphs have been added to the article before the first paragraph and the phrase “Principles and procedures for killing” in the second sentence of the existing second paragraph has been changed to “Principles and procedures for killing and euthanasia ”.“ The measure specified in the third paragraph of Article 9 of the Veterinary Services, Plant Health, Food and Feed Law No. 5996 dated 11/6/2010 shall be applied to dogs taken into a shelter that pose a danger to the life and health of humans and animals, have uncontrollable negative behaviors, have contagious or incurable diseases, or are prohibited from being owned.Local authorities are authorized to take the necessary administrative measures in their work and procedures regarding stray dogs within the scope of the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals, approved by the Council of Ministers’ Decision No. 2003/6168, dated 28/8/2003 .” ARTICLE 6 – The phrase “Medical” in subparagraph (h) of the first paragraph of Article 14 of Law No. 5199 has been changed to “Legal and medical” and the following clause has been added to the paragraph.“o) To abandon stray animals collected on behalf of local governments to a place other than a shelter or to abandon dogs kept in a shelter to a place other than a shelter.” ARTICLE 7- Clause (b) of the first paragraph of Article 16 of Law No. 5199 has been amended as follows and clause (f) has been repealed.“b) To determine the problems related to the protection of animals within the provincial borders and those originating from stray animals, to make annual, five-year and ten-year plans and projects that include solution proposals for the problems, to prepare annual target reports and submit them to the approval of the Ministry, to take all kinds of measures regarding human, animal and environmental health by obtaining the approval of the Ministry,” ARTICLE 8 – The first sentence of the first paragraph of Article 19 of Law No. 5199 has been amended as follows.“In order to protect human, animal and environmental health, incentives or financial support in amounts deemed appropriate by the Ministry are provided to local governments and other relevant institutions and organizations to establish shelters, hospitals and operating rooms, to provide related medicines, tools and equipment, and to carry out activities such as care, rehabilitation and adoption in shelters.” ARTICLE 9 – The phrase “and thus holds” in the first paragraph of Article 24 of Law No. 5199 has been changed to “or possessed” and the last sentence of the paragraph has been changed as follows.“The animals in question that are eligible for adoption are kept in the animal shelter until they are adopted.” ARTICLE 10 – The phrase “second” in subparagraph (ı) of the first paragraph of Article 28 of Law No. 5199 has been changed to “fourth”, the phrase “two thousand per animal” in subparagraph (j) has been changed to “sixty thousand per animal” and the phrase “administrative fine.” in the same subparagraph has been changed to “an administrative fine of fifty thousand Turkish lira per animal for those who act contrary to subparagraph (o).” and the phrase “animal protection volunteer” in the second subparagraph has been removed from the text of the article. ARTICLE 11 – The phrase “, second and third” has been added after the phrase “first” in the second paragraph of Article 28/A of Law No. 5199, and the phrase “animal protection volunteer” in the seventh paragraph has been removed from the text of the article. ARTICLE 12- The phrase “Animal Health and Control Law No. 3285, Animal Breeding Law No. 4631” in Article 31 of Law No. 5199 has been changed to “Law No. 5996”. ARTICLE 13- The title of the additional article 1 of Law No. 5199 has been changed to “Responsibility of local administrations”, the phrase “metropolitan district municipalities and others” in the first paragraph has been removed from the text of the article, the phrase “until they are taken over” has been added after the phrase “to be protected and” in the paragraph, the phrase “provincial special provincial administrations” has been added after the phrase “non-existent municipalities” in the second sentence of the second paragraph, and the third and fourth sentences of the paragraph and the third paragraph have been changed as follows.“Animals taken to shelters are registered in the Ministry’s data system. Rehabilitated dogs are housed in animal shelters until they are adopted.”“For metropolitan municipalities, provincial municipalities and municipalities with a population exceeding twenty-five thousand, mayors and council members who do not allocate the resources specified in the second paragraph of temporary article 4, and mayors and municipal officials who do not spend the allocated resources to establish animal shelters, collect stray animals, rehabilitate them or care for them until they are adopted, or who spend these resources for other purposes, shall be sentenced to imprisonment from six months to two years.” ARTICLE 14 – Temporary Article 4 of Law No. 5199 has been amended as follows.“TEMPORARY ARTICLE 4- Metropolitan municipalities, provincial municipalities and municipalities with a population exceeding twenty-five thousand are obliged to establish animal shelters specified in the first paragraph of additional article 1 and to improve the conditions of existing shelters until 31/12/2028 .Municipalities shall allocate resources at the rate of five per thousand of their latest finalized budget revenues to establish animal shelters, carry out rehabilitation procedures and care for stray animals until they are adopted , in accordance with the first paragraph, until 31/12/2028 . This rate is applied as three per thousand in metropolitan municipalities. The funds allocated in accordance with this paragraph cannot be used for any other purpose.40 percent of the expenditures made by municipalities above the rates determined in the second paragraph of this article shall be transferred to the relevant municipality by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, provided that it is documented. However, the amount to be transferred shall not exceed 40 percent of the rates determined in the second paragraph under any circumstances. The procedures and principles regarding the implementation of this paragraph shall be determined by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance.Cat and dog owners must register their animals using digital identification methods by 31/12/2025 at the latest .” ARTICLE 15 – Law No. 5199;a) The phrase “or looking after him” in the first paragraph of Article 5, the phrase “and keeping controlled animals” in the fourth paragraph and the phrase “with pets” in the third paragraph of Article 17 have been removed from the text.b) The phrase “and Animal Protection Volunteers” in the title of Part Three, Section Two has been removed from the text of the law and its 18th article has been repealed. ARTICLE 16 – This Law shall enter into force on the date of its publication. ARTICLE 17 – The President shall execute the provisions of this Law.08/1/2024 |