European Commission to accelerate efforts to phase out animal testing

In a response to a proposal by the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), the European Commission has said that it will be accelerating its efforts to phase out animal testing in the region.

The commission welcomed the organisation’s ‘Save Cruelty-free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without Animal Testing’ framework, through which the ECI offered up actions that could be taken to further reduce animal testing.

This would build on the full ban of animal testing for cosmetics, which has been in place in the EU since 2013, extending further into general animal welfare.

The commission said it would launch a new roadmap with a set of legislative and non-legislative actions to further restrict animal testing, with one of its goals cited as moving towards an animal-free regulatory system under chemicals legislation.

There will also be more support towards researching the development of alternatives to animal testing, as noted in a release.

Other actions the commission has outlined responding to the ECI are the likes of strengthening the cosmetics animal testing ban, extending the legislation to also cover safety tests and the environment.

ECI has been upping its attempts to gain such a response from the commission since 2012, when it first provided a tool for citizens to help propose legal action where possible.

The organisation’s initiative was then registered in June 2021, later collecting over 1.2 million signatures in support which were then verified by the Member State authorities.