HAMPTON ROADS, Va. - Multiple new laws will go into effect in Virginia in 2022, including minimum wage increases, auto insurance requirements and a crackdown on cosmetics that test on animals.
As of January 1, 2022, no cosmetic company can conduct or contract animal testing in the Commonwealth.
According to Virginia law, no cosmetics manufacturer can "manufacture or import for profit any cosmetic or ingredient thereof, if the cosmetics manager knew or reasonably should have known that the cosmetic or any component thereof was developed or manufactured using cosmetic animal testing that was conducted on or after January 1, 2022."
In addition, beginning July 1, 2022, selling within Virginia any cosmetic, if the cosmetics manufacturer knows or reasonably should know that the cosmetic or its components were developed or manufacturing using cosmetic animal testing, will be prohibited.
The prohibitions will not apply if the cosmetic animal testing was conducted to comply with a requirement of a federal or state regulatory agency, such as:
- The tested ingredient is in wide use and cannot be replaced by another ingredient capable of performing a similar function;
- A specific human health problem related to the cosmetic or ingredient is substantiated that justifies the need to conduct cosmetic animal testing;
- There does not exist a method of testing other than cosmetic animal testing that is accepted for the relevant purpose by the federal or state regulatory agency.
They also will not apply to comply with a requirement of a regulatory agency of a foreign jurisdiction, so long as no evidence derived from such testing was relied on to substantiate the safety of a cosmetic sold within Virginia by the cosmetics manufacturer.
