With the turn of the decade, an old senate bill passed in 2018 will finally come into effect in California to regulate the current cosmetics market. The bill, known as the California Cruelty-free Cosmetics Act, is designed to protect the wellbeing of animals used for testing cosmetic products.

Since January 1st, 2020, the new law prohibits selling cosmetics in California that are tested on animals. The law makes it “unlawful for a manufacturer to import for profit, sell, or offer for sale” a cosmetic product if it was developed using an animal test that was conducted or contracted by the manufacturer. The products that will be affected include a variety of our daily-use personal care items such as shampoo, makeup or moisturizing cream. 

This new bill is definitely an improvement on animal rights, but it won’t entirely solve all problems from the get-go. The law admits exceptions in animal testing – specifically when the product uses an ingredient that is used widely and can’t be replaced, and if the animal tests were conducted to comply with Chinese regulations. China is the only country that requires animal testing on all imported non-special use cosmetics. Thus, some products that are brought into California might still contain ingredients that were tested on animals.