Under the bill, animal slaughter will be possible only if animals are previously stunned, an exception being the slaughter of domestic fowl and rabbits.
The bill introduces stricter conditions for the transport of animals.
Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic said the bill banned ritual slaughter such as the cutting off of an animal's head or other body parts.
The bill also envisages the establishment of an ethics commission for the protection of animals.
The government today also proposed amendments to the Law on Decorations and Certificates of Merit to make it possible to award decorations to some military and police units for their contribution to the Homeland War.
The government adopted a report on the participation of the sixth Croatian Armed Forces contingent in the peace mission in Afghanistan, stating that the contingent had carried out its duties responsibly and professionally.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said the government and its office for social partnership were closely following the situation with former workers of the Zagreb Tobacco Factory (TDZ), which is now owned by the Rovinj Tobacco Factory (TDR).
The head of the office for social partnership, Vitomir Begovic, the Zagreb city government and trade unions are trying to help solve the existing conflict, Sanader told reporters.
"We should state clearly that this is a conflict between TDZ workers and their owner Adris Group, and we want it to be solved in the best possible way. Adris Group is one of the strongest corporations in Croatia," Sanader said calling on the corporation to invest additional effort to find a solution.
The government does not intend to sell its 18-percent stock in the pharmaceutical company Pliva, the PM told reporters who wanted to know how the government would respond to the latest offer by the Icelandic company Actavis to buy Pliva shares at a price of 630 kuna instead of the previously offered 570 kuna per share.
According to the latest offer, Actavis is offering 630 kuna per share in cash thus estimating Pliva's value at 1.85 billion US dollars.
Actavis representatives said that this was the last change of their offer and that it would depend on the possibility to perform due diligence.