The European Union (EU), through a Commission Communication adopted yesterday, has decided to implement a total marketing ban on cosmetic products and ingredients tested on animals as from March 11, 2013. This ban will be enforced despite the fact that alternative non-animal tests have not yet been developed for repeated-dose toxicity, reproductive toxicity and toxicokinetics tests.

The total marketing ban will impact the marketing in the EU of cosmetics tested on animals in non-EU countries, such as China, as these tests cannot be relied upon in order to prove the safety of the product in the EU.

Consequences -

In practice, a cosmetics company wanting to use a new ingredient that cannot be tested via proven alternative methods to animal testing will not be able to rely on animal testing data for the purpose of complying with the safety requirements of Regulation 1223/2009 on cosmetic products.