CWD as a New Health Threat in Europe and the Adequacy and Effectiveness of Instruments of Legal Response from a Comparative Legal Perspective.

Prions cause infectious and fatal neurodegenerative diseases in mammals. Chronic wasting disease (CWD) affects wild and farmed cervids. The increasing number of cases in Europe, the resistance of prions to external conditions, and the persistence period threaten not only wild cervid populations but also the economy. The possible zoonotic potential of CWD is of growing concern. CWD is a relevant issue as far as the idea of "one health" is concerned, which is a fundamental principle of European veterinary law. Methods of legal text analysis and interpretation are used for this comparative legal study. Research reveals that countries struggling to tackle CWD employ different normative approaches to the problem and use different control and eradication schemes. The results of this study indicate that it is reasonable to issue uniform regulations in the European Union at the common, rather than national, level. The European legislation should creatively draw on the experience of North American countries that have been struggling with the discussed disease for a long time.

The Germanic Model of Liability for Diseases of Animals in Sale Transactions: Historical Heritage or the Dead Weight of Past Generations? Factors Affecting the Form of Legal Standards for Warranty.

The subject of the analysis is the Germanic model of liability for the physical defects of animals examined through examples in Europe. Methods of legal analysis and interpretation are used. Contemporary (Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland) and historical examples (Germany and Poland) are examined and described. The characteristics of this model and the historical conditions which shaped the current legal state are demonstrated. It is shown where particular civil law systems in Europe have maintained the Germanic model of warranty to this day, where other systems have replaced it with another model and what factors have influenced this. The analysis is comparative in regard to legal systems and oriented toward veterinary science.

Veterinary Expert: Legal Nature and Responsibility.

Veterinary professional practice can be performed in many forms, including expert activity. The importance of veterinary expertise is, however, often underrated and limited to only one of its areas. Nonetheless, veterinary expert opinions have significant social, legal, and economic impacts. This study investigates veterinary expertise from an interdisciplinary, comparative perspective. Ethical and legal analysis and interpretation are performed. Essential concepts and relevant aspects of veterinary expertise are analysed. Legally relevant factors of an expert opinion are identified. The relationship between the law, the language, and the understanding of the role and duties of a veterinary proficient is demonstrated. A variety of possible expert opinions and the multiplicity of veterinary scopes of such activity is presented. It is argued that the ranges of forensic veterinary medicine and of veterinary expertise are broader than is predominantly assumed. Veterinary forensic medicine is a crucial part of veterinary specialisation. Ethical and legal basics, and the scope of veterinary expert's liability, are revealed and discussed. The conclusion is that the duties and responsibilities of expert veterinarians are particularly great due to the exercise of the public trust profession, with large importance for the whole society. Their observance is, however, crucial to ensure the highest quality of expert opinions issued by veterinarians.

15 years of facts and figures on veterinary disciplinary measures in the Netherlands.

In most countries, a veterinary disciplinary system is in force to ensure the quality of the veterinary profession and to offer an objective platform for complaints. We present an analysis of 15 years of veterinary disciplinary verdicts (2001-2016) to compare facts and figures and identify which factors are of major influence on the outcome of the verdicts. Rulings were collected from both paper files and the digital database of the veterinary disciplinary council (VDC), categorized, and used to create a database that enabled a statistical analysis. The results showed that complaints pertaining to companion animals are filed predominantly by owners, whereas complaints about livestock are mostly filed by the governmental civil servant (CS). CS complaints mostly address compliance issues. For the complaints made by owners (client complaints, CCs), reporting, communication, and veterinary mistakes appeared to be of statistical significance. Further studies are needed to investigate the impact of the complaints on veterinarians in general and how we can improve the veterinary disciplinary system.