Cruelty Free International accuses government of “slavishly follow legislation coming from the EU”

Cruelty Free International has accused the Prime Minister of being "misinformed about the Government’s position on animal testing for cosmetics", after losing a high court battle over the Government scrapping animal testing bans earlier this week. 

Animal testing for makeup or its ingredients had been banned in the UK since 1998. However, in a letter sent to Cruelty Free International in 2021, the Home Office admitted that has allowed animal testing for cosmetics in the UK.

The animal protection and advocacy group responded by taking it up in court. Though the judge was critical of the way the Home Office had conducted itself in the Judicial Review, the actions were not ruled unlawful.

The judge agreed with the Home Office’s interpretation of the EU legislation but said that that did not stop the UK from having a policy prohibiting cosmetics testing on animals.

However, this ruling contradicts the 2015 Government statement: "For the avoidance of any doubt, we are advising you that the current UK ban on testing cosmetics in animals is an absolute ban… No license authorising the testing of cosmetics (finished products or ingredients) has been issued since 1998 … The UK’s policy ban remains in place even where EU legislation would appear to require or permit such testing’ (italics added)."

Cruelty Free International has responded, commenting: "Unfortunately, the Prime Minister is misinformed about the Government’s position on animal testing for cosmetics.

"The Government also said separately that the policy applied to worker safety testing. The Prime Minister’s statement refers to tests ‘for the consumer’. Whether labelled as consumer or worker safety, the animal tests are identical. The Government is now unquestionably once more allowing cosmetics testing on animals for the benefit of consumers.

"The 2015 statements constitute the policy the Government abandoned in 2019, paving the way for cosmetics testing on animals once again. All the PM needs to do is to reinstate the policy. The Government does not have to slavishly follow legislation coming from the EU. It should do what the overwhelming majority of British people want."