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Challenges to EU cosmetic testing ban
The French government has lodged a case at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg demanding that the recently-agreed EU Directive banning the testing of cosmetics and the sale of animal-tested cosmetics be quashed on legal and technical grounds. Documents lodged at the court argue that the ban is too severe and is incompatible with world trade rules, that its wording is ambiguous and that it will damage European business interests. They also claim that the resulting improvement in animal welfare would be "extremely small" and that "it is likely to result in the circulation of products presenting significant risks to human health".
A second and distinct legal challenge to the ban, it emerged in October, has been launched from another front. The European Federation for Cosmetics Ingredients, a coalition of 70 companies that manufacture cosmetic ingredients in Switzerland, Belgium, France, Germany and Italy has lodged the second challenge in the European Court of First Instance. This challenge is also designed to quash the EU ban.
Animal rights campaigners said they were appalled by the French move. "It has taken animal campaigners and the European Parliament a frustrating 13-year struggle to finally secure legislation to outlaw the suffering of lab animals to produce trivial products like lipstick and perfume," said Wendy Higgins of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV).
However, Alain Grangé-Cabane, the president of the French Cosmetics Industry Association, denied that their move was motivated by the industry's financial and business considerations. "This is a very difficult legal question." He continued, " It isn't a political or an industrial issue. There is a lack of legal clarity in the directive."