Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish a response to the open letter from Cruelty Free International and eighty cosmetics industry organisations dated 19 August 2021 asking that no changes are made to the UK ban on cosmetics testing on animals.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government can confirm, there has been no change to, and there is no plan to change, any of the legislation related to regulatory testing using animals in the UK.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to prevent animal testing for cosmetic (a) products and (b) product ingredients.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Home Office is responsible for the operation of the regulatory framework underpinning the Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
The Home Office’s role is to protect the animals used in science by ensuring in so far as possible that relevant bodies and individuals comply with their duties under the ASPA.
The Home Office do this through considering and making decisions on applications for licences for testing, based on the underlying legal requirements, as well as carrying out enforcement activity and compliance assurance activities during the lifetime of a licence, for example through inspections. This includes ensuring that no animal testing is conducted in circumstances where there are practicable alternatives.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions has she had with large cosmetic firms in the UK on cosmetic testing on (a) mice, (b) rats and (c) other small animals.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Secretary of State for the Home Department has not had recent conversations with cosmetic firms in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will maintain the existing ban on animal testing for cosmetics and the sale of newly tested cosmetics ingredients.
Answered by Paul Scully
Animal testing of cosmetics for the purposes of meeting the Cosmetics Regulation has been banned in the United Kingdom since 1998. No animal testing on finished cosmetic products, or ingredients or combinations of ingredients may take place in the United Kingdom. There are no plans to change this position.
Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of negotiating an agreement with China, similar to that recently agreed between the French Government, and China on allowing for exemptions on animal testing when exporting ordinary cosmetics from the UK to China.
Answered by Paul Scully
The UK Government recognises the potential benefits to UK businesses of an agreement with China that allows cosmetic products not tested on animals onto the Chinese market. BEIS is working with the Department for International Trade and UK industry to create a certification system that would allow UK businesses to comply with Chinese regulations and take advantage of this growing market whilst maintaining the UK’s clear position and domestic ban on animal testing in cosmetics.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the decisions in Symrise AG, 18 August 2020, by the Board of Appeal of the European Chemicals Agency on requiring animal testing under REACH of ingredients solely and already used in cosmetics, and the incorporation of Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No. 2009/1223 via the Product Safety and Metrology (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, whether (a) all animal testing for ingredients used predominantly in cosmetics will be prohibited in the UK after 31 December 2020 and (b) there will be a prohibition on the sale in the UK of cosmetics ingredients tested on animals after March 2013 irrespective of where the testing was carried out or under which regulatory regime.
Answered by Paul Scully
Following the end of the Transition Period, under the EU Withdrawal Act, existing EU legislation will be carried over into UK law. This includes both the REACH Regulation and the Cosmetics Regulation.
The use of animal testing to demonstrate the compliance of the final formulation of cosmetic products or their ingredients with the Cosmetics Regulation will remain prohibited in the UK after 31 December 2020. No animal testing of finished cosmetic products or their ingredients or combinations of ingredients in order to meet the requirements of the Cosmetics Regulation is allowed to take place in the UK.
The sale of cosmetics where the safety of ingredients is demonstrated through animal tests after March 2013 will remain prohibited in the UK after 31 December 2020
The safety of chemicals is regulated by DEFRA. In the case referred to, these tests were required under REACH in order to assess the risks to workers involved in the formulation of the substances.
Asked by: Kerry McCarthy (Labour - Bristol East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer on 6 September 2018 to Question 169147 on Animal Experiments, if the Government will introduce legislative proposals to bring regulations for the testing on animals of ingredients used in household products into line with those on ingredients used in cosmetics.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Home Office has published clear guidance on the Household Products testing ban, which is available on Gov.uk
The Household Products Testing ban has been in place since 2015.
Asked by: Lesley Laird (Labour - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to seek to end cosmetic animal testing throughout the world.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra has no specific policy responsibility for international efforts to end cosmetic testing on animals. The Home Office regulate the use of animals in science in the UK. The Office for Life Sciences has shared the UK’s own experience of introducing a ban on cosmetics testing on animals with other countries, including, most recently, China.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support international efforts to end cosmetics testing on animals worldwide.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra has no specific policy responsibility for international efforts to end cosmetic testing on animals. The Home Office regulate the use of animals in science in the UK. The Office for Life Sciences has shared the UK’s own experience of introducing a ban on cosmetics testing on animals with other countries, including, most recently, China.
Asked by: David Crausby (Labour - Bolton North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to encourage a ban on (a) animal testing for cosmetics and (b) the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.
Answered by Mark Field
Although the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is not responsible for policy on animal testing for cosmetics, or the sale of animal tested cosmetics, the FCO has supported the Home Office through diplomatic engagement via our overseas network on this subject.
For example, since 2013, the Home Office and the FCO/BEIS Science and Innovation Network in Beijing has continued to support China to bring an end to unnecessary cosmetics testing on animals, advising on a science-based approach for alternative testing.