Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether standards equal to or higher than those in the EU directive banning animal-tested cosmetics will remain in place as part of any preferential trade agreement that the UK agrees.

Testing finished cosmetic products and cosmetic ingredients on animals is prohibited under EU Cosmetics Products Regulation. In the White Paper published on 12th July, the Government set out its ambition for a future economic partnership with the EU, which includes a proposal for a UK-EU free trade area underpinned by a common rulebook for goods. This would cover those rules necessary to provide for frictionless trade at the border and would be supported by arrangements covering all relevant compliance activity necessary for products to be sold in the UK and EU markets, while allowing the UK to negotiate new international trade agreements consistent with the proposals in the White Paper.