Strasbourg, 15/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - Following its rapporteur, German Social Democrat Dagmar Roth-Behrendt, the European Parliament approved, on Wednesday in Strasbourg, the joint draft Directive on cosmetics, as reached after conciliation with the Council. The text, which amends the earlier 1976 Directive, introduces a new deadline for effective application of the general ban on animal testing. This will be gradually applied between now and 2009 except for three categories of experiments for which no alternative method has as yet been validated. These categories will have more time allotted to them until 2013. If the Commission notes that, two years at the latest before expiry of this period, validation has been delayed, extension may be decided by co-decision procedure. During its negotiation with the Council, the Parliament also managed to reach agreement on: (1) indication of the shelf life on packaging; (2) labelling to show allergenic ingredients; and (3) the ban on carcinogenic and mutagenic substances and on substances that may be harmful for reproduction.
The European Commission welcomed the Parliament's vote on a text that the Council, in turn, will amend in a few days in order to allow formal adoption of the amended Directive. In a press release, Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner for Enterprise, states that a great step has been made toward the final goal, which is to reduce the suffering of animals while ensuring consumer health and protection, and at the same time complying with international rules and regulations. With this agreement, he says, several years of complex and arduous discussions have been completed. He also welcomes the emphasis placed on subjects of great importance for consumers such as the labelling of allergenic substances.