The European Commission published an evaluation of Regulation (EU) 2016/429, the Animal Health Law (AHL), on 6 July 2026, finding that implementation is still evolving and long-term impacts cannot yet be measured due to data gaps, recent disease outbreaks, and ongoing national adaptations. The evaluation covers the period from adoption in 2016 through 2024, with a focus on application since 21 April 2021, across all EU Member States and, where relevant, EEA and candidate countries.
The AHL replaced 39 Directives and Regulations to create a single, risk-based framework for preventing and controlling transmissible animal diseases, including zoonoses. It introduced structured disease listing, prioritisation, and categorisation; strengthened biosecurity, surveillance, and preparedness; and clarified roles for operators, veterinarians, and competent authorities. The evaluation notes that significant animal health events during the period—highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), African swine fever (ASF), bluetongue virus (BTV), and the COVID-19 pandemic—pressured authorities and affected implementation timelines. Data constraints and the short application period (since 2021) limit assessment of long-term effects; the evaluation is an early-stage assessment, not a definitive appraisal.
The evaluation excludes transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), zoonoses monitoring, zootechnics, animal welfare, veterinary medicinal products, and feed/food safety, except for coherence assessment. The Commission concludes that the AHL has brought positive structural changes, but full alignment of national systems is ongoing in several Member States, and the full benefits are not yet measurable.