The NZAVS Cruelty Free Guide lists beauty, skincare, body care and household products that are genuinely cruelty-free and available to purchase in Aotearoa, New Zealand. It is also the only NZ-based cruelty-free verification.

Multiple different cruelty-free lists exist; the point of difference with ours is how ironclad our cruelty-free criteria are.

‍Companies listed on our Cruelty Free Guide can't be affiliated (in any way whatsoever) with animal testing - we leave no room for sneaky loopholes!

Check out the Cruelty Free Guide here.

We have strict criteria that have to be met before a company can be featured in our Cruelty Free Guide.

THE CRITERIA

COMPANIES FEATURED DON'T:

• Test any product ingredients or final products on animals.
• Pay anyone else to test any product ingredients or final products on animals.
• Have a parent company that conducts or funds animal testing.
• Sell their products in China (where regulation requires animal testing) see below for more information. Companies that sell in Hong Kong, Taiwan or in China via e-commerce only can still be added to our Cruelty Free Guide.

COMPANIES FEATURED ALSO HAVE TO:

• Sell some vegan-friendly products. As we are opposed to any form of animal exploitation, we only promote vegan products made by cruelty-free companies.
• Sell their products in NZ — either in stores or online.

MORE INFO ABOUT OUR CRUELTY FREE GUIDE

INFORMATION SOURCE

We trust that company representatives tell us as the truth. If new information comes to light proving that a company on our list is affiliated with animal testing, then it will be removed from our Cruelty Free Guide immediately.

PRODUCTS SOLD IN CHINA

According to experts we have spoken with, products sold in China via e-commerce do not require regulatory animal testing. Therefore, companies selling in China but only via this method are included in our Cruelty Free Guide. For other distribution channels, products must fulfil certain requirements to avoid animal testing.

Cosmetics sold directly in Hong Kong or Taiwan don't need to be tested on animals, so companies selling here and not in the rest of China will also be included in our Cruelty Free Guide, given they avoid animal testing for those markets, too.

According to The Leaping Bunny, toothpaste is treated as cosmetic in China, so as of May 2021 can avoid pre-market animal testing under certain circumstances (I.e., if there are additional “claims” like whitening, then animal testing may be required).¹

Read more about animal testing in China here.

Cruelty-free companies selling products in NZ can apply to be added here.