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Training and workshops

The Commission roadmap for phasing out animal testing in chemical safety assessments

This hybrid workshop was organised in Brussels as part of the Commission's response to the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) ‘Save Cruelty-free Cosmetics - Commit to a Europe without Animal Testing'.

The workshop consisted of 2 parts. The presentations delivered during these 2 days can be read on our dedicated page. The recorded livestream is also available on our YouTube channel:

Background

The Commission adopted its communication (response) to reply to this ECI on 25 July 2023. The Commission welcomed the initiative and confirmed the goal to eventually phase out all animal testing for regulatory purposes.

This response provided a comprehensive overview of the EU legislative and policy framework regarding the use of animals for testing purposes, and outlined additional actions to accelerate the reduction of animal testing.

Among other actions, the Commission committed to developing a roadmap to ultimately phase out animal testing for chemical safety assessments. This roadmap will outline milestones and specific actions that would be pre-requisites for a transition towards animal-free chemical legislation.

The Communication also stated its intention to discuss elements of this roadmap with Member States and stakeholders at a workshop in the second half of 2023.

  • chemical industry | cosmetics industry | animal welfare
  • Monday 11 December 2023, 09:00 - Tuesday 12 December 2023, 17:30 (CET)

Practical information

When
Monday 11 December 2023, 09:00 - Tuesday 12 December 2023, 17:30 (CET)
Languages
English

Description

In the first part, speakers from the Commission, the EU regulatory agencies EFSA, ECHA and EMA, NGOs, industry associations and research institutes provided ideas and discussed possible approaches for the uptake of non-animal methods in chemical legislation.

Accelerating validation and acceptance of non-animal methods is a key element to achieve this goal. Case studies addressing several areas of concern will help to identify the necessary steps to develop the Commission roadmap.

For the second part, the Commission invited the organisers of “NGRAroute”, an activity under Work Package 2 ("A common science-policy agenda") of the Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC), to hold a hands-on workshop session in the afternoon of the second day.

They presented their views on a Next-Generation Risk Assessment approach. This second part was titled “Guiding principles for NGRAroute - a roadmap proposal for implementing Next-Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA) in EU chemicals legislation”.

Description: NGRAroute is an activity under Work Package 2 - "A common science-policy agenda" of PARC. During interactive sessions, on-site and online participants were asked for their views and ideas regarding guiding principles for and important elements of a future roadmap for installing NGRA as the default approach. In other words, the mandatory first line of risk assessment in EU chemicals legislation.

For more information, please see the presentations. You may also contact DG GROW at: GROW-NON-ANIMAL-TESTINGatec [dot] europa [dot] eu (GROW-NON-ANIMAL-TESTING[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu)