Foreign grantees must provide the NIH Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) with an Animal Welfare Assurance for foreign institutions, as described at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/references/phspol.htm#Applicability.   

This constitutes institutional assurance and certification of compliance with the applicable laws, regulations, and policies of the jurisdiction in which the research will be conducted, and a commitment to follow the International Guiding Principles for Biomedical Research Involving Animals.

A current list of PHS Approved Animal Welfare Assurances held by international organizations can be found at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/olaw/assurance/500index.htm.

IACUC approval is not required of foreign grantees; however, OLAW encourages foreign grantees to use the standards in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The Guide is recognized worldwide as a resource for laboratory animal research facilities. Currently, the Guide can be read and ordered online in Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Taiwanese translations (See http://dels.nas.edu/ilar_n/ilarhome/guide.shtml).

When the grantee is a domestic institution and performance sites are foreign (i.e., domestic grant with a foreign component), PHS Policy requirements are applicable. Accordingly, the prime domestic grantee remains responsible for animal activity conducted at the foreign site and must provide verification of IACUC approval (i.e., certification that the activity as conducted at the foreign performance site is acceptable to the prime grantee). The prime grantee IACUC may accept, as its own, the approval of a foreign organization's IACUC; however, the prime grantee IACUC remains responsible for the review. Additionally, the foreign site must obtain an Animal Welfare Assurance for foreign institutions as described above.

Sample Animal Welfare Assurance for Foreign Institutions Form. (MS Word - 71 KB)

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