Widely differing views around the globe on the acceptability of testing the safety of cosmetics on animals have triggered a test case of enormous significance to both the industry and animal rights campaigners who condemn the practice as cruel.
Cosmetics which include animal-tested ingredients are banned from the European market. The sale of any such product in the UK is a criminal offence. However, in other parts of the world, including China and Japan, manufacturers are required by law to test ingredients on animals before they can be used in products.
In those circumstances, a trade association representing many of the major players in the industry asked the High Court to relieve the uncertainty and grant a declaration that cosmetics ingredients which have been tested on animals outside Europe, in order to satisfy the legislative and regulatory requirements of non-European countries, can be marketed in Europe without contravening the ban.
Following a hearing in which anti-vivisection campaign groups and the Attorney General also aired their views, the Court found that the association had raised a ‘real issue’ as to the correct interpretation of the EU Cosmetics Regulation. That was not a question which could be satisfactorily resolved under domestic law and the matter was referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.