Sustainable Beauty

At our core lies a deep respect for the world around us. That is why we are committed to honoring, promoting, and protecting nature both near and far.

Since the L’OCCITANE en Provence brand was founded in 1976, L’OCCITANE has been against the use of animals to test beauty products. The L’OCCITANE Group does not test its products, active ingredients or raw materials on animals at any point in the product development or manufacturing process, and it requires all its suppliers to adhere to a strict charter and prove that they fully respect the same rigorous standards.

What’s more, the L’OCCITANE Group’s number one priority is the health and safety of its consumers. All its product formulations have therefore been tested extensively over time through alternative methods, including product safety tests and user/clinical trials.

In China, where the Group’s brands are also sold, imported beauty products must be submitted for compulsory testing on a limited animal panel in government laboratories before they can be approved for sale in the country. Specifically, the Chinese authorities require a regulatory dossier including results from one-off tests (which vary based on product category) in order to issue a Hygiene Permit for each new imported cosmetic product. The authorities also stipulate that cosmetics may be subject to random, post-market sampling tests for auditing purposes.

These regulatory requirements apply to all cosmetic products not manufactured locally.

The L’OCCITANE Group is deeply committed to ending animal testing for beauty products globally, and it is active in a number of collaborative industry-wide efforts to achieve this goal.

The cosmetics industry, via Cosmetics Europe, which the L’OCCITANE Group actively supports as a corporate member, is engaging with the relevant Chinese authorities and animal rights NGOs to introduce alternative testing techniques, such as those used in Europe, where animal testing – including tests on finished products, active ingredients or raw materials – has been banned in full since 2013.

This constructive dialogue has already led to a series of advances in Chinese regulations, including the decision in June 2014 to end animal testing on so-called ‘ordinary cosmetics’ (shampoo, perfume etc.) that are manufactured and packaged locally. Another major milestone was achieved in November 2016 when the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved the use of a non-animal test for the safety assessment of certain cosmetic ingredients. The National Institutes for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) are currently evaluating other alternatives to animal testing.

The L’OCCITANE Group provides funding to support alternative methods of testing. For example, it partners with the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS), a non-profit research and testing laboratory dedicated to advancing in vitro (non-animal) testing methods worldwide. The IIVS has an active programme in China, which is dedicated to promoting the use and regulatory acceptance of non-animal testing methods for assessing the safety of cosmetics. Progress was noted in 2018 with IIVS’s appointment to China’s Alternatives Working Group for Cosmetics and, in April 2019, with the acceptance of certain non-animal (alternative) testing methods for the regulation of cosmetics.   More detailed information can be found on the IIVS website.

We trust that this consultative approach with the Chinese regulators and industry bodies will help bring an end to animal testing once and for all.