Directive 2010/63/EU is the European Union (EU) legislation "on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes" and is one of the most stringent ethical and welfare standards worldwide. The Directive repealed Directive 86/609/EEC. It became formally applied across the EU on 1 January 2013. It protects live non-human vertebrates including independently feeding larval forms and foetal forms of mammals from the last third of their normal development, and live cephalopods.