The European Commission provided a weak response to a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) that was seeking to uphold and fortify the 2013 European Union (EU) ban on animal-tested cosmetics. Although the “Save cruelty-free cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing” initiative had over 1.2 million supporters, the Commission ignored the primary issue of concern. However, it did state its willingness to move forward with a roadmap to phase out animal testing for industrial chemicals, pesticides, and medicines, including efforts to facilitate the development and regulatory acceptance of alternative methods.

The European authorities had previously decided that the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) legislation required some cosmetic ingredients to undergo animal testing—not to evaluate consumer safety, for which animal testing is strictly banned, but for explicit concerns in REACH around worker safety and risk to the environment.

That is why the ECI, led by animal protection organizations and cosmetic companies, was filed in January 2023. EU authorities claimed that, because there are two court cases considering the same question, they will wait for those outcomes and abide by that determination. However, without changes in the legislation to explicitly say that animal testing for cosmetics is fully banned, regardless of purpose, those cases may not be favorable.