Brussels, 11/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - The total ban on selling any cosmetic product or ingredient tested on animals anywhere in the EU entered into force in the European Union on Monday 11 March (EUROPE 10802), the Commission has confirmed, and this ban will go hand-in-hand with continued efforts to promote research into alternative methods, in the EU and in cooperation with third countries, it explained in a press release adopted on the same day. This "gives an important signal on the value that Europe attaches to animal welfare. The Commission is committed to continue supporting the development of alternative methods and to engage with third countries to follow our European approach", stressed Tonio Borg, the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, who firmly believes that the full ban "has the potential to accelerate the development of these alternative methods", on which 214 million euros have been spent over the last five years. He sees this progress as "an example of responsible innovation without any compromise on consumer safety".
Tests on animals have already been banned for cosmetic products under directive 2003/15/EC2004. Since 2009, they have also been banned for cosmetic ingredients, and in the same year a marketing ban was applied to cosmetics which had been tested on animals, with the exception of the most complex tests. The total ban is therefore the culmination of a process. "We started to work on putting an end to animal testing twenty years ago. Today's communication confirms that we will not miss our deadline. The decision was not an easy one to take, because it is not yet possible totally to replace animal testing with alternative methods. There will be an impact on the availability of cosmetic ingredients", Sabine Lecrenier, head of the 'Cosmetic products and medical devices' unit at the Commission's DG SANCO, explained to the press. The European Commission's strategy is now to monitor the implementation of the total ban and to pull out all the stops on research into and the validation of new methods, making a European approach an essential component of international cooperation. She went on to add: "we cannot force China and the US to ban animal testing, but in order to demonstrate the safety of a product marketed in Europe, this will have to be done by means of alternative methods or by using data from tests carried out prior to 2013". On the other hand, if an animal test is carried out to test an ingredient in line with European or American pharmaceutical legislation which authorises this type of trial for drugs, the data can be used and the ingredient legally marketed. The Commission is in touch with third countries to get them to agree to alternative methods and certain countries may adopt this approach. "Positive signals have been sent out by Israel and India. And this morning, a large Japanese company announced that it would stop animal testing as of next month", Ms Lecrenier announced.
For animal rights activists, "11 March 2013 will go down as an historic date. We are delighted that after more than 20 years of mobilisation, a ban has been imposed to guarantee that no animal will ever suffer again for new cosmetics sold in the EU", commented Michelle Thew, executive director of Cruelty Free International. (AN/transl.fl)