Taiwan to Ban Domestic Enterprise from Animal Testing

Take home:

• Taiwan will ban domestic enterprise from using animal test subjects when generating safety and efficacy data used in cosmetic registration starting from the end of 2019.

"Taiwan Legislation Yuan" reviewed the revision of Statute for Control of Cosmetic Hygiene on Oct 21 and approved partial amendments including an important article relating to animal testing.

The article states that domestic cosmetic manufacturers shall not use animals as test subjects during safety assessments of finished cosmetic products or ingredients except under the following circumstances:

• The ingredient is widely used and it can’t be replaced by other ingredients
• The ingredient is likely to be harmful to human health

Enterprise violating the new rules will be banned from selling their products. Violators will be subject to a fine of not more than NT$ 150,000 and their products will be destroyed. If there is any serious violation or second violation, violators will be forced to cease business activities and their existing registration certificates may be cancelled. A grace period of three years is granted by the authority after which Taiwan will no longer accept domestic animal-tested cosmetics.

Claire Mansfield, HSI’s global #BeCrueltyFree campaigns director, said: “This is a moment to celebrate as Taiwan joins the growing international movement away from animal testing of cosmetics. Unfortunately, Taiwanese consumers can still buy cosmetics cruelly tested on animals if the product is imported.”

Legislators Wang YuMin noted that “for now it is hard to ban the import of animal-tested cosmetics, but we can start from our region to eliminate cruelty”. Although just a domestic ban, it is still a historic moment for Taiwan.

China Taiwan joins the league of cruelty free countries/regions which includes Norway, Israel, India, New Zealand, South Korea, Turkey and several states in Brazil enacting full or partial bans on animal testing for cosmetic products and ingredients. Similar legislation is currently pending in the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia and Argentina.