WRITTEN QUESTION E-2626/00 by Esko Seppänen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. The WTO and animal testing of cosmetics.
Date: 2000-08-01
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: animal experimentation, common commercial policy, cosmetic product

C 89 E/214

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

20.3.2001

(2001/C 89 E/241)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2625/00

by Esko Sepp(cid:228)nen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(1 August 2000)

Subject: The OECD and animal testing of cosmetics

In the Commission(cid:146)s view, by what OECD agreements is the EU bound when it comes to introducing a
ban on animal testing of cosmetics and marketing of products which have been tested on animals?

(2001/C 89 E/242)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2626/00

by Esko Sepp(cid:228)nen (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(1 August 2000)

Subject: The WTO and animal testing of cosmetics

What negotiating strategy does the EU intend to adopt in any WTO negotiations on banning animal
testing of cosmetics? What is the Commission(cid:146)s position on the possibility of banning the marketing
within the EU of products which have been tested on animals?

Joint answer
to Written Questions E-2625/00 and E-2626/00
given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(6 October 2000)

The Organisation for economic cooperation and development (OECD) toxicity test guidelines detail test
methods that are internationally accepted and recommended to be used to ensure the safety of all
industrial chemicals (such as pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, dangerous substances, and cosmetic ingre-
dients). Their aim is to avoid the multiplication of different test methods in countries and then the
duplication of tests. The Community has the obligation to accept the results of tests done with animals in
other third countries because of the mutual acceptance of data agreement. In other words, animal testing
if someone wants to put on the
on cosmetic ingredients in the Community can be banned, but
Community market some cosmetic products containing ingredients that they have tested on animals in a
third country using adopted OECD guidelines and good laboratory practice to determine their intrinsic
properties, the Community should accept those results. A ban on the marketing of products which have
been tested on animals would imply the repetition of tests using alternative methods, and this would set
up a barrier to trade and could impact upon any favourable position taken upon the acceptability of
European in vitro data.

The OECD has recently started to negotiate the adoption of guidelines on in vitro methods validated by the
Community. The Commission will therefore continue to work with the OECD and will endeavour to gain
OECD-wide regulatory acceptance of alternative methods to animal testing already validated at Community
level. The goal will be to implement such methods through the adoption of OECD guidelines in order to
ensure a real benefit to animal welfare on a more global level.

The Commission recognises the value of developing multilateral agreements on standards for animal
welfare. Those standards, based on scientific advice, would give the best guarantee that animal welfare
measures are not misused for protectionist purposes.

Concerning the possibility of banning the marketing within the Community of products which have been
tested on animals (cid:129) whether such products are manufactured in the Community or imported from third
countries (cid:129) the Commission considers that a ban on imports on the grounds that they have been tested
on animals may not be compliant with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules (Articles III and XX of
General agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT) 1994 and Article 2 of the technical barriers to trade (TBT)

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 89 E/215

Agreement). These rules prohibit discriminatory measures between similar products. According to WTO
rules, there is no difference between cosmetics tested on animals and those tested in vitro, and therefore
there is no justification to discriminate between them. A general marketing ban therefore may lead to a
dispute, particularly with the United States and Japan.

On this basis, the Commission has adopted a proposal (1) for a Directive of the Parliament and of the
Council amending for the seventh time Council Directive 76/768/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the approxima-
tion of the laws of the Member States relating to cosmetic products (2), which would have the effect of
changing the present marketing ban into a ban on animal testing within the Community. At the same
time, the Commission will do all possible to encourage the international adoption of alternatives to animal
tests, both in bilateral discussions and in OECD.

(1) COM(2000) 189 final.
(2) OJ L 262, 27.9.1976.

(2001/C 89 E/243)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2657/00

by Mark Watts (PSE) to the Commission

(1 September 2000)

Subject: Vehicle stopping distances

Is the Commission aware that air brakes on trucks have an in-built lag in operation of up to 0,3 of a
second between the time that the brake pedal is depressed and the brakes begin to function, and that this
equates, at just 30 miles per hour, to one car length before the brakes begin to take effect?

Is the Commission also aware that if a car and a laden truck travelling at the truck(cid:146)s limited speed
(56 miles per hour) brake at the same moment, then when the car has come to rest the truck will still be
travelling at 30 miles per hour?

Is the Commission also aware that the present standards required for brake efficiency are based on the
level of retardation provided rather than stopping distances? Since this is the case, does the Commission
agree that in order to reduce the present unacceptably high level of nose-to-tail crashes (deaths and
injuries) between trucks, and between trucks and other smaller vehicles, that the effective following
distances must be increased?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(28 September 2000)

It is true that stopping distance and braking efficiency vary between passenger cars and heavy commercial
vehicles. This is the reason why the test procedures and the limit values differ between these types of
vehicles. Council Directive 71/320/EEC of 26 July 1971 on the approximation of the laws of the Member
States relating to the braking devices of certain categories of motor vehicles and of their trailers (1) as last
amended by Commission Directive 98/12/EC of 27 January 1998 (2), stipulates in Annex III, item 2.3 that
in the case of the actuation time of 0,2 second, the time elapsing between the beginning of actuation of
the control pedal and the moment when the pressure in the brake cylinder reaches 75 % of its asymptotic
value shall not exceed 0,6 second. It is true that the traditional air brake systems for heavy vehicles have
relatively long reaction times, but they must meet this requirement. The situation for most new vehicles
has dramatically improved since the introduction, some years ago, of electrical operation of brakes,
reducing brake reaction times to the almost instantaneous.