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.

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.