Vegan & Cruelty-Free

Vegan and cruelty-free are among the most valuable positions in modern beauty, but neither is a legal category. The substance behind them is the animal-testing law, the long-standing China market question, a quieter tension with chemicals law, and the rules that govern how the claims may be made.

The animal-testing ban

In the EU and UK, animal testing of cosmetics is prohibited under Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009. The testing ban stopped animal testing of finished cosmetics and then of ingredients, and the marketing ban, fully in force since 11 March 2013, prohibits placing on the market any cosmetic whose ingredients have been animal-tested for cosmetic purposes. The UK retained the equivalent prohibition. The practical consequence is that “not tested on animals” is the baseline legal position for any cosmetic on these markets, not a point of difference.

The claim problem

That baseline is exactly why the claim needs care. Under the Common Criteria, a claim must be fair and must not mislead, so presenting a legal requirement that binds every competitor as a special virtue of one product can breach the fairness principle. “Cruelty-free” branding nonetheless remains widespread, and the safe basis for it is an auditable certification, such as Cruelty Free International’s Leaping Bunny or the PETA programme, rather than a bare on-pack assertion. “Vegan” is a separate claim about the absence of animal-derived ingredients, beeswax, lanolin, carmine, honey, collagen and the like, and likewise has no legal definition, so it is substantiated through the formulation and, often, a scheme such as The Vegan Society.

The China question

For years China’s mandatory pre-market animal testing forced brands to choose between that market and a cruelty-free stance. Since 1 May 2021, imported general (ordinary) cosmetics can be exempted from mandatory animal testing if conditions are met: a government-issued good manufacturing practice certificate from the country of origin, a product safety assessment, the product not being aimed at infants or children, and no new (unlisted) ingredients. Special cosmetics such as sunscreens, hair dyes and whitening products can still require testing, and post-market testing remains possible, so a cruelty-free claim has to be checked against the brand’s actual route into China rather than assumed.

The REACH tension

A subtler issue sits at ingredient level. A substance used only in cosmetics can still be required to undergo animal testing to satisfy REACH worker-safety and environmental endpoints, as the ECHA appeal decisions have confirmed, which complicates any absolute claim that an ingredient was never tested on animals. An honest claim accounts for this rather than overstating.

How we help

We substantiate vegan and cruelty-free claims against the Common Criteria, align them with the recognised certification schemes, check a cruelty-free position against the brand’s China strategy, and keep the wording defensible given the REACH testing reality. The aim is a claim that holds up to challenge, not one that merely sells.