'Not tested on animals' / 'Cruelty free' 🐰
Do you look for this mention in your cosmetic products, as cosmetic buyer or cosmetic producer? Do doubts arise when you don't find it, or aren’t you acquainted with the mechanism that regulates the testing of cosmetics on animals in the EU? Then this article might help!
Animal testing of cosmetics and cosmetic ingredients has been progressively banned in several countries. The EU is at the forefront in this regard, being one of the big players that inspires others to align to its legislation, which is good news!
Briefly:
- In the EU, since 2009 - Cosmetics Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009) - Animal testing of cosmetics and cosmetic ingredients is not allowed.
- Since 2013 the sale of cosmetic products tested on animals was also banned,in the EU.
Going a little deeper into the mechanics of this process:
1. All chemical materials – including some cosmetic ingredients – are under the responsibility of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
2. Before a chemical material can be used, it has to go through an entire individual approval process.
3. The regulation that guides this process for chemicals is the REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals). This regulation is very important as it sets out health and environmental aspects, and drives the reduction of chemical substances testing on animals, promoting alternatives.
4. The Cosmetics Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009) focuses solely on cosmetics, prohibits the testing of ingredients or finished cosmetic products on animals.
And what happens when a cosmetic ingredient, also being a chemical ingredient, raises issues that require testing on animals, creating conflict between REACH and regulation 1223/2009?
In August 2020, for the first time since 2013, two chemical ingredients, , generated the need for an exceptional request for testing on animals.
In this exceptional case, animal testing was considered as a last resort to enforce the workers' health protection directives and the EC reiterated that it continues to work to make these animal tests a last resort and banned altogether in the EU.
There are very few exceptions to the ban, as in the approval process for cosmetics in the EU the producer is required to submit a declaration on the absence of animal testing of their products, in addition to a declaration on the absence of other hazardous substances – but the hazardous substances will be content for a future post!
If this is the reality in the EU...it is not the reality across the world, where countries are advancing at different speeds. While in Australia and some US states, animal testing of cosmetics has been banned, other countries are in progress – such as Canada.
A recent breakthrough has taken place in China: one of the countries that until recently required animal testing for imported products, with exceptions (such as direct foreign sales via e-commerce). As of May 1, 2021, China no longer requires animal testing for imported cosmetics, with few exceptions.
If you want to read more about this topic and the actions you can take to promote the ban on animal experimenting we advise you to visit the website of: ''Cruelty Free International'.
Sources:
ECHA – Understanding REACH - checked the 02 June 2021.
ECHA - Clarity on interface between REACH and the Cosmetics Regulation, checked the 02 June 2021.
European Parliament - Parliamentary questions, checked the 02 June 2021.
WWD -‘China Exempts Cosmetics From Animal Testing Starting in May’, Tiffany Ap, written on March 4, 2021, checked the 02 June 2021.
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