HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 33 
of medical science (see Section 1 1). There are special forms of application 
for both, which on completion should be sent to the Under-Secretary of 
State, Home Office, Whitehall, London, S.W.l. The Home Secretary 
then has the power to allow, disallow or suspend certificates — and may 
do so wholly or in part — but he has no power to extend the scope of 
certificates. In order to afford him the necessary time to consider a 
certificate the Act gives him a minimum of seven days but in practice it is 
usually longer than this before the licensee hears whether or not his 
certificate has been disallowed (Section 8). The Home Secretary 
invariably requires that no experiment under any certificate held by the 
licensee may be performed until he has been notified that the certificate 
has not been disallowed (Condition No. 2 attached to all licences). 
The Home Office will normally, if requested, deal with very urgent appli- 
cations with the minimum delay permitted by the Act. 
The Secretary of State grants licences and allows certificates on the 
advice of his inspectors. In a small minority of applications, when he 
is in doubt whether he should grant a licence or allow a certificate, he 
may refer the matter to an Advisory Committee. This Committee was 
set up on the recommendation of the second Royal Commission. The 
members are selected from a panel of names submitted by the Royal 
Society, the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of 
Surgeons, three members from each body, and, in addition, one nominee 
from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons : a judge of the 
High Court presides. 
Licences and certificates are legal documents. They are personal 
to the holder, and delegation of authority under them is expressly 
forbidden, whether or not in his presence. It is stressed that there is no 
relaxation of the ban on delegation in experiments under Certificate C. 
The Home Office has given the following general guidance to licensees in 
the matter of interpreting the term delegation : — 
(1) There is no delegation where two or more persons, each holding separate 
authority under the Act to perform a particular experiment, carry out 
conjointly the operative or other procedures involved. 
(2) Where necessary a licensee may permit anyone to administer anaesthetics 
to an animal subject to his experiment. 
(3) He may allow another person to carry out mechanical duties. Thus a 
licensee may, for instance, employ an assistant to hold an animal whilst he 
gives an injection or to administer a diet which he has prescribed ; or, whilst 
he carries out operative procedures, to control haemorrhage, hold retractors 
or to undertake equivalent subaltern duties. 
(4) Subject to the above, the prohibition on delegation is absolute and a licensee 
may not allow another person, licensed or unlicensed, to take part in his 
experiments, even under his supervision or when he himself is present. 
The Home Office looks to the licensee to give strict observance to the 
relevant extracts of the Act which accompany the licence ; to the condi- 
tions attached thereto ; and to the wording of the certificates, which 
admits of no latitude. Infringement may lead, and in some cases has 
led, to revocation of the licence. Action may also be taken against the 
laboratory authority which is responsible for the registered place in which 
the experiments are carried out. At the time of registration it is stated in 
a letter that the Secretary of State relies upon the co-operation of the 
laboratory authorities in requiring the strict observance within the 
registered premises of all the provisions of the Act and if he subsequently 
considers that his reliance has been misplaced, he may reasonably be 
7 
