Beauty majors and animal advocacy groups have welcomed the move made by France to enable its brands and manufacturers to qualify for China animal testing exemptions when exporting and suggest other countries should follow suit (Getty Images)
The move by France to provide a government platform enabling beauty manufacturers to qualify for exemptions when exporting general-use cosmetics to China should carve out a path for other countries to follow, says a Procter & Gamble executive.
New measures announced in January and due to take effect from May 1, 2021, meant exemptions would be granted for manufacturers that provided a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certificate issued by a government regulatory department, not a third-party institution or association, alongside compliant product safety assessment documentation. Up until now, China had required animal testing for all imported cosmetics on arrival, excluding those sold via cross border e-commerce channels; testing that was carried out by Chinese local health control authorities, not brands.