Organizational Strategy - Sustainable Development - L'Oréal

4 L’OréaL - GrI DaTa SHEETS 2011
The directors made new proposals for themes to be added to the agenda of meetings in 2012, mainly relating to the group’s lines for
development, in strong growth areas and New Markets.
> For further details, see the “2.2.2.2. Self-assessment by the Board of Directors” section on page 46 of the 2011 reference Document.
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Protecting the safety of consumers is an absolute priority for L’Oréal. The very strict safety tests to which products are submitted before they
are marketed enable L’Oréal to satisfy current safety rules in national regulations in all countries where the group’s products are sold. To
that end, and well before the introduction of legal requirements, the group had already formed a team to assess product safety so as to
guarantee that they are innocuous both for professionals and consumers.
The assessments made by the L’Oréal’s International Safety assessment Department, based on a multidisciplinary scientific approach,
mark every stage in the life cycle of products.
assessing product safety is based on a complex process: assessing the safety of every ingredient and of all finished products on the
basis of existing safety data and the latest medical and scientific knowledge. It thus establishes the toxicological profile of ingredients
used and the tolerance of formulas before they are put on the market. If necessary, L’Oréal conducts additional safety tests at qualified
subcontracting laboratories located throughout the world. Their results are interpreted by experienced scientists specially trained on
safety assessments.
To conclude, a special safety certificate, signed by an expert safety assessor, is issued for every product that L’Oréal puts on the market.
additionally, L’Oréal’s ethical values, rooted in both scientific thoroughness and taking societal issues into account, lead to a logic of
anticipation that makes formulations evolve by removing and/or substituting the substances in question.
The added value for L’Oréal as regards assessing the safety of ingredients and finished products is based on the investment made over
more than 20 years in developing forecasting methods and in tissue engineering. Thus, L’Oréal has been investing, for many years, in
science and technology to create new assessment systems that are used daily by safety assessors.
L’Oréal extends the safety assessment by monitoring potential undesirable effects that may occur when the product is on the market. This
enables appropriate corrective measures to be taken if necessary.
To address issues that the public may have on the subject of particular substances and their effects on health and the environment,
L’Oréal’s position can be summarised in three points:
• vigilance as regards any new scientific data;
• working with the competent authorities;
• precaution leading to the substitution of ingredients in the case of ascertained or strongly suspected risk.
> For further details, see:
• the “6.3.4. Fair practices” section “Measures taken to protect consumers’ health and safety” paragraph on page 202 of the 2011
reference Document.
• the “1.8.1.2. Product quality and safety” section on page 18 of the 2011 reference Document.
A PERMANENT COMMITMENT TO PREDICT PRODUCT EFFICACY AND SAFETY
L’Oréal’s technological innovations would be worth nothing without the guarantee that they are safe and efficacious. To meet these
requirements, reasearch began in the eighties to develop alternative methods to animal testing to assess the safety of its products.
Great progress has been made thanks to tissue engineering, which in 1983 enabled the reconstruction of the first human epidermis, then,
in 1996, of the first complete skin (epidermis and dermis). Because of these models, L’Oréal was able to end tests on animals for finished
products in 1989, which is 14 years before required by European law. In three decades, the group has built real expertise in reconstructed
tissues. Today, nine models of reconstructed skin and cornea have been developed.
These models are fabulous tools for predicting the safety and efficacy of its products and allow the pre-marketing interval to be reduced.
> For further details, see the “Products available to the greatest numbers” section on pages 12 and 13 of the 2011 Sustainable Development
report.
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