The policy change, announced in December by the Chinese Food and Drug Administration and to take effect in June, would allow the sale of “non-specialized cosmetics” manufactured in China, such as soap, shampoo and some skin products, without being tested on animals, if they can draw on existing safety data for raw ingredients or  perform European Union-validated non-animal tests. “When the results of risk assessment produce sufficient evidence to guarantee safety, toxicity tests on the finished products may be skipped,” the new rule says.

Since the regulation only applies to domestic production, the industry hopes that the rules will be extended to imported products. However, scientists and animal welfare activists question whether Chinese laboratories are fully prepared to conduct non-animal tests. The longstanding reliance on animal testing in China has held back research in alternative methods. For this reason there is a training program organized by the Inspection and Quarantine Bureau of Guangdong Province in collaboration with Humane Society International is an effort to address this issue. 26 participants of the open seminar will be selected, who will then complete a three-day training course at the IIVS (Institute for In Vitro Sciences).

Source:
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/interest-grows-in-animal-testing-alternatives/?_php=true