The 2020 European Court of Justice judgment in the case C-336/19 sided with the Belgian region of Flanders, acknowledging the right of the EU Member States to require a reversible stunning procedure which cannot result in the animal’s death, even in the context of ritual slaughter. This has renewed the debate on the topic, leading to legislative changes in other member states like Greece or Romania and resulting in a conference on the topic of ritual slaughter organized by the European Commission in October of 2022. To aid the public discussion, the Atlas of Religious or Belief Minority Rights has recently expanded its scope to include this policy area. Taking the mapping provided by the Atlas as a starting point, this panel will discuss both the theoretical issues arising from the recent discussions (most importantly the balancing of principles concerning the minority rights and animal welfare) and the novel policy implications and legislative trends that followed the 2020 judgment (for example, whether the judgment led to polarization between states safeguarding animal welfare and those protecting religious minority rights).Chair: Ryszard Bobrowicz (KU Leuven)Speakers:Rossella Bottoni (Università di Trento), The conflict between animal welfare and religious freedom: dispelling the mythMichael Kramer (Universität Graz), Ritual Slaughtering: The Case of AustriaPerparim Uxhi (FSCIRE), A reasoned map of the ritual slaughter legislation in the context of the European Union