Testing Bans and Marketing Bans under the Cosmetics Directive

This article analyses the testing and marketing bans under the Cosmetics Directive. After a glance at the legal and factual background (II.), the analysis will then turn to the fundamental rights of Community law (III.) and demonstrate that the envisioned phase-out of animal testing on 11 March 2009 leads to a conflict with Community law (IV.). Finally, several options on how such conflict can be avoided and how a right balance between the protection of animal welfare and the right to develop and market cosmetic ingredients can be found will be discussed (V.). A summary contains the major findings (VI.).