L'Oréal - 2018 Registration Document

L’Oréal’s corporate social, environmental and societal responsibility POLICIES, PERFOR MANCE INDICATORS AND RESULTS

THE PRODUCT SAFETY ASSESSMENT PROCESS

L’Oréal’s added value, in terms of the safety assessment of ingredients and finished products, lies in its investment for nearly 40 years in the development of predictive methods and tissue engineering, and their international regulatory recognition. For many years, the Group has thus been investing in science and technology to create new evaluation tools which are used every day by safety assessors. L’Oréal also works closely with all the international stakeholders involved in relevant industries in order to progress the development of alternative cross-disciplinary solutions in the field of safety assessment. This longstanding commitment means that since 1989, or 14 years before regulations required, the Group no longer carries out animal testing in laboratories for any of its products. Equally, L’Oréal no longer tests its ingredients on animals. L’Oréal no longer tolerates any exceptions to this rule and this applies worldwide. The Group also does not delegate responsibility for doing so to anyone else. Some authorities may nevertheless decide to carry out animal testing themselves for certain cosmetic products and this is still the case in China. For more than 10 years, L’Oréal has been the company most committed to getting Chinese authorities and scientists to recognise alternative methods and changing cosmetic regulations to achieve the complete and final elimination of animal testing. As a result, since 2014, some products manufactured and marketed in China such as shampoos, shower gels and certain make-up products are no longer tested on animals. In fact, L’Oréal’s products continually evolve as and when technological innovations occur, but with the constant desire to guarantee the highest level of safety for both consumers and professionals.

L’Oréal has set up a process to ensure that all products developed by the Group, whatever the geographical location of the laboratory in charge of the project, are subject to the same level of rigorous safety evaluation. The assessments by the Worldwide Safety Evaluation unit, based on a multidisciplinary scientific approach, are carried out at all stages of the product life cycle. This approach enables L’Oréal to meet the safety requirements of the national regulations in force in all the countries in which its products are put on sale, testifying to their safety of use. A safety report is issued for each product launched on the market. The product safety evaluation is based on the evaluation of each ingredient that enters into the composition of the product and the finished product itself. It is carried out on the basis of existing safety data and the latest medical and scientific knowledge, as well as conditions of use. If necessary, L’Oréal conducts additional safety studies in qualified laboratories all over the world. The results of these studies are interpreted by experienced scientists who are specially trained in safety issues with regard to cosmetic ingredients and products. Furthermore, L’Oréal’s ethical principles, rooted in both scientific rigour and responsiveness to societal concerns, lead to a pre-emptive approach whereby formulations are evolved by removing and/or replacing substances on the basis of new data.

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REGISTRATION DOCUMENT / L'ORÉAL 2018

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