A4-0017/97

Resolution on the Commission report on the development, validation and legal acceptance of alternative methods to animal experiments in the field of cosmetic products - 1995 (COM(96)0365 - C4-0662/96)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the 1995 report of the Commission on the development, validation and legal acceptance of alternative methods to animal experiments in the field of cosmetic products (COM(96)0365 - C4-0662/96),

- having regard to the 1994 annual report of the Commission on the development, validation and legal acceptance of alternative methods to animal experiments (COM(94)0606 - C4-0115/95) and its resolution of 14 July 1995 thereon ((OJ C 249, 25.9.1995, p. 207.)),

- having regard to its decision at second reading of 21 April 1993 ((OJ C 150, 31.5.1993, p. 123.)) on the common position adopted by the Council with a view to adopting a Directive amending for the sixth time Directive 76/768/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to cosmetic products (C3-0010/93 - 00/0307(SYN)),

- having regard to Council Directive 93/35/EEC of 14 June 1993 amending for the sixth time Directive 76/768/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to cosmetic products ((OJ L 151, 23.6.1993, p. 32.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer protection (A4-0017/97),

1. Deeply regrets that the Commission takes the view that it must submit draft measures to postpone the date of implementation of the ban for two years in the case that no alternative methods are available by 1 January 1998;

2. Regrets the delayed publication of the abovementioned 1995 report of the Commission, despite the urgent need to assess developments in this area, in view of the Commission's obligation under Directive 93/35/EEC to submit no later than 1 January 1997 any proposal wholly or partly to postpone the prohibition on the marketing of cosmetic products or cosmetic ingredients tested on animals after 1 January 1998;

3. Regrets that more than three years after the adoption of Directive 93/35/EEC, the Commission is still not able to provide detailed statistics on cosmetic testing in the European Union, despite the fact that Article 4(1)(i) of Directive 76/768/EEC (as amended by Directive 93/35/EEC) imposes a clear obligation on Member States to collect this information, and on the Commission to provide precise data on the numbers and types of experiments relating to cosmetic products in its annual report;

4. Regrets that so little progress has been made in replacing experiments on animals for cosmetic testing with alternative methods, which calls into question whether all reasonable endeavours have been made to develop and validate such alternatives, as is required by Article 4(1)(i) of Directive 76/768/EEC (as amended by Directive 93/35/EEC);

5. Notes that the Commission now acknowledges that the expression 'combination of ingredients¨ does include the final product;

6. Calls on the Commission:

(a) to support full implementation of the ban on the marketing of cosmetic products, where the product or ingredients have been tested on animals after 1 January 1998; Parliament believes that this approach will provide the greatest incentive for the industry, Member States and the Commission to complete the necessary development of validation and legal acceptance of non-animal alternative tests and will not adversely affect consumer safety because the estimated 8,000 ingredients already available to the cosmetics industry can continue to be used to develop new products;

(b) to ensure that in the event that the Commission makes a proposal to postpone any part of the ban, this should not be for more than two years, and clear deadlines should be given in all cases;

(c) to take positive and urgent measures to give new momentum to efforts to develop and validate alternatives; in particular, there should be an urgent research commitment to other priority areas including systemic toxicity, carcinogenicity and teratogenicity, and measures to oblige greater industry commitment (such as the previous suggestion from Parliament that all companies and institutions undertaking animal tests in the EU be required to participate in development and validation studies or pay a levy/duty to fund such work on alternatives);

(d) to avoid further delays to the adoption of valid non-animal alternatives resulting from efforts to gain the widest international acceptance; points out that such acceptance is not required by Directive 93/35/EEC, and any failure to utilise available non-animal methods may be contrary to Directive 86/609/EEC;

(e) to give full weight to the fact that not all animal tests were validated during consideration of the level of validation of alternatives, bearing in mind that in such cases alternative methods would only have to be validated to offer an equivalent level of protection to these non-validated animal tests;

(f) to take immediate measures to enforce the obligation on Member States to collect the statistical information required by Directive 93/35/EEC, and produce without further delay detailed data on the number and type of experiments carried out on animals for cosmetic testing in each Member State;

(g) to draw up a comprehensible strategy in agreement with all interested parties to boost the development, validation and legal acceptance of alternative methods to experimenting on animals in the area of cosmetics;

(h) to include R& D activities aimed at discovering alternative testing methods relating to acute and chronic toxicity, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity and toxicity in reproduction as part of the Fifth Research and Development Framework Programme;

7. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and the Commission.