Promoting science and research

Making sure that cosmetic products are safe without the use of animal testing is a key priority for our industry. This is driven by a commitment to consumer well-being and mandated by stringent regulatory requirements.

Exhaustive safety science is essential for maintaining our competitive position, and enables us to guarantee the safety and product innovation that consumers demand.

For more than 30 years, expert scientists from across the sector have supported the development, validation and regulatory acceptance of alternative test methods and approaches. During that time Cosmetics Europe has invested over 70 million Euros in the development of alternatives to animal testing. One of our major initiatives was the Long-Range Science Strategy (LRSS) research programme (2016–2022). This was a multidisciplinary partnership between cosmetics companies and other groups that have a deep interest in Non-Animal Methods (NAMs) and Next Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA). Participants included the international regulatory community, validating agencies, academia, research institutes and industry partners.

Cosmetics Europe has also worked on important projects to refine the exposure assessment process for cosmetic ingredients. For example, we have generated habits and practices data on cosmetics and personal care products in infants and children aged 0–3 in order to fill data gaps in exposure for this subpopulation.

Additionally, Cosmetics Europe continuously engages in the promotion of NAMs and NGRA. For instance, we submitted the first regulatory NGRA dossier to evaluate the systemic safety of Benzophenone-4.

Partnerships and collaboration

Cosmetics Europe continues to engage in partnerships with organisations such as the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing (EPAA) and the International Cooperation on Cosmetics Regulation (ICCR).

We also collaborate with initiatives that pursue similar objectives to ours, such as RiskHunter, ONTOX, PARC, AFARA, CHANGE and VHP4Safety.

Cosmetics Europe played a key role in establishing the International Collaboration on Cosmetics Safety (ICCS). This is a global initiative with a focus on advancing the adoption of animal-free assessments of cosmetics and their ingredients, for human health and environmental safety.

In its capacity as an ICCS member, Cosmetics Europe is actively involved in a range of projects being run by the collaboration.