Efforts in Canada Will Continue in New Parliament
On November 18, the Humane Cosmetics Act, S. 2886, was introduced in the U.S. Senate. The Act will: 1) prohibit new animal testing of cosmetics and their components; and 2) prohibit the sale in the U.S. of cosmetics that have undergone cosmetic animal testing. It includes important provisions related new testing including Foreign Regulatory Requirements and Non-cosmetic animal testing. A summary of the Humane Cosmetics Act can be found here.
Canada Update:
Senate Bill S-214, a private member’s bill to amend the Food & Drugs Act to prohibit the sale and manufacture of animal tested cosmetics in Canada, died with the dissolution of the 42nd Parliament in August 2019. The bill as original drafted did not align with the E.U. ban nor fit within Canada’s regulatory framework – leading to significant technical and legal issues for industry.
CA worked extensively with “animal testing ban” proponents, and both the Conservative Health Critic and Liberal Health Minister’s staff, to develop a legislative approach to address the issues and align the legislation with the E.U. CA achieved consensus with most stakeholders to this approach including the Health Minister, and undertook a Government Relations strategy to support passage of a workable bill including outreach to key MPs, Ministers, and regulators.
Our work is expected to form the basis of a new bill, likely to be introduced as government legislation in 2020, that aligns with the E.U. ban. CA continues to work with government and stakeholders to ensure that any bill introduced is aligned with the E.U. ban and is workable for both regulators and industry.
