The Chinese skin care industry and its regulations: is China moving towards a cruelty-free future?

Abstract

In recent times, China has been appointed the title of "the world's second-largest cosmetic market", with its skin care sector becoming the most prominent division within the cosmetic field, comprising of over half of the entire cosmetic market share. Following a recent developmental pathway taken by China's regulatory field, the entry into force of the new Cosmetic Supervision and Administration Regulation (CSAR), with its stance on animal testing appearing to be in compliance with the normative environment of major international players such as the EU, the skin care industry in China is mutating at full speed. The following dissertation aims at firstly bringing to light the skin care market's developmental path in China, highlighting the political and socio-cultural aspects that have been responsible for its rapid transformation. In the second chapter, the dissertation strives for providing an understanding of the skin care's regulatory background and its recent development, taking into account a general comparison with foreign regulations. The final chapter focuses on the area of animal testing in the Chinese cosmetic industry, firstly in comparison with the EU's stance and defining the impact exerted on multinational enterprises located or attempting to enter the Chinese market, ultimately shedding light onto why the ban on animal testing is currently creating more opportunities for industry advancement.