For some time now, we have been reading in the trade press about the boom in the vegan cosmetics, which is defined as not tested on animals and free from ingredients of animal origin. When we first heard about this new concept, at first glance it seemed rather trivial to us, given that European legislation prohibits animal testing for the cosmetics sector through the Regulation. However, after seeing more posts that mentioned it, we decided to look into it in a bit more depth, and we realised that this legal framework can be circumvented by carrying out this research outside the EU.
Consequently, many companies – in order to test the safety of their products and gain access to markets such as China and the US, where this type of pre-marketing testing is still required – continue to carry out animal testing on their cosmetic products, which are then marketed within Europe, repeating the safety tests (but this time without using animals).
At product level, the only assurance users of this type of product can have is the logo Cruelty-free. And yet, many of these logos are counterfeited to boost sales. So, in order to verify whether a company really belongs to the vegan cosmetics, you can turn to various animal rights organisations that offer their own certification schemes. According to internet users, the most reliable vegan cosmetics certification schemes are those from CCIC & BUAV (Cruelty-Free International), at international level, that of PETA for the US and Choose Cruelty-Free for Australia. When a product’s labelling features one of these seals, you can check online whether the manufacturer is legally registered with the association by consulting its list of authorised companies.
Without getting into the debate surrounding animal testing, we would like to welcome this new range of cosmetic products – innovation is one of the cornerstones of our sector – and we recommend that consumers make sure they are properly informed about each product so as not to fall victim to fraud.