Despite decades-old laws banning the testing of cosmetics on animals within the EU, contradicting laws for protecting workers from hazardous chemicals mandated animals being tested on. Leaving the EU allowed the UK to resolve this contradiction in law, and return to the outright ban on cosmetics testing on animals.
The UK, being a nation of animal lovers, has always been a global leader as regards reducing and even prohibiting the testing of cosmetics on animals, having introduced an effective ban on animal testing of cosmetics in 1998 through banning the issuing of testing licences (see link 1). The UK policy was in fact the forebear to the EU legislation that followed in the decades to come (2004 for finished products, 2009 for ingredients, 2013 for marketing), that the UK replicated during its withdrawal from the union. However, the EU can often be a quite bureaucratically complex place and seems to be adept at introducing legislation that contradicts and even undermines other legislation. A good example of this is the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals regulations, also known as REACH 1907/2006.
REACH *requires* animal testing to determine the safety of chemicals (for example for environmental risks or worker safety) when no other non-animal alternative methodologies for testing are known to exist, even when those chemicals are specifically and solely for use in cosmetics (see link 2). The requirements under REACH are of higher importance to those within the animal protection legislation, with the EU courts having ruled as recently as 2023 that two cosmetic-only ingredients *had to* be tested on animals – despite the EU testing ban (see link 3).
The UK replicated the REACH legislation into UK law when it departed the EU, so it also replicated the contradiction. After a 2020 European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) ruling, the UK Home Office decided – without needing to do so due to Brexit – to stay aligned with the EU approach and issue guidance that animal testing would be required to stay in line with what was now the UK REACH laws. This decision when discovered by animal rights activists caused significant public backlash, and in May 2023 the UK government reversed course and diverged from EU policy to close the inconsistency loophole (see link 4).
As of May 2025, the UK finds itself in a stronger position as regards the prevention of animal testing on cosmetics, from all angles. The banning of testing of chemicals on animals when used solely in cosmetics, even under UK REACH, ended such testing completely within the UK. This allows for the marketing ban to also be enforced more effectively, as the previously mentioned loopholes complicated matters in this regard. The contradictions and loopholes continue to exist to this day within the EU, with over 400 cosmetic-only chemicals currently registered under REACH – and thousands of animals having been tested on within the EU for these chemicals since 2013 (see link 5).
All the source material for this benefit:
Link 1: Cruelty Free International, ‘Where it all began’, https://crueltyfreeinternational.org/make-change/cosmetics/uk-cosmetics
Link 2: National Centre for the Replacement Refinement & Reduction of Animal in Research, ‘The use of animals in cosmetic testing (including REACH regulation)’, https://nc3rs.org.uk/use-animals-cosmetic-testing-including-reach-regulation
Link 3: Court of Justice of the European Union, ‘Judgement of the General Court of 22 November 2023 – Symrise AG v European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)’, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:C_202400725
Link 4: S. Braverman (2023), UK Parliament Written Statement UIN HCWS779, ‘Regulation Update, https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-05-17/hcws779
Link 5: Priya S (2021), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, ‘Despite the Ban, Animals Tests for Cosmetics Are STILL Taking Place in the EU’, https://peta.org.uk/blog/animal-tests-for-cosmetics/