Animal Test–Free and Vegan

1. Review the Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals: Visit the Leaping Bunny website to understand the full requirements, including the commitment to end animal testing at all stages of product development — from raw ingredients to finished products.

1. Conduct a supply chain audit: Identify all ingredient suppliers and confirm they do not conduct or commission animal testing. This is often the most time-intensive step, as every supplier in the chain must be accounted for.

1. Obtain supplier declarations: Collect signed declarations from all ingredient suppliers confirming they do not conduct animal testing on any materials supplied to your brand.

1. Complete the brand pledge: Submit your company's formal pledge to the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), committing to end animal testing at all production stages.

1. Submit your application: Apply through the Leaping Bunny website, providing your company details, product categories, and supporting supplier documentation for review.

1. Undergo documentation review: The CCIC and its partner organizations review your submitted materials. Be prepared to respond to follow-up questions or provide additional supplier evidence.

1. Receive certification and access the logo: Upon approval, your brand is added to the official Leaping Bunny certified brand list and granted rights to use the Leaping Bunny logo on products and marketing materials.

1. Recommit annually: Each year, reaffirm your pledge, update supplier declarations as needed, and remain open to third-party audits to maintain your certified status.

The Leaping Bunny certification evaluates whether a brand and its entire supply chain are free from animal testing. Unlike some cruelty-free labels that only assess the finished product, Leaping Bunny's Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals requires a comprehensive review across all stages of production.

Brand-level commitment: The brand must formally pledge to end animal testing on all products and ingredients, with no exceptions for markets that legally require animal testing (such as mainland China, for brands that choose to sell there). The pledge covers new formulations and any reformulated products.

Supplier-level declarations: Every ingredient supplier used by the brand must provide a signed declaration confirming they do not conduct or commission animal testing on any materials supplied. This is the most rigorous element of the assessment, as it requires tracing the supply chain back to raw ingredient sources — not just contract manufacturers or distributors.

Annual recommitment: Brands are assessed on an ongoing basis through annual recommitment, during which they must reconfirm their pledge and update supplier documentation to reflect any changes in their supply chain.

Third-party audit readiness: Certified brands must remain open to unannounced or scheduled third-party audits to verify that their practices align with their declarations. While not all brands are audited every year, the possibility of audit is a core accountability mechanism.

The program does not assess vegan status (absence of animal-derived ingredients) as a default requirement — that is a separate consideration. The focus is exclusively on the absence of animal testing throughout the supply chain.

Leaping Bunny is widely regarded as the gold standard for cruelty-free product certification in North America and has strong recognition in Europe through its partnership with Cruelty Free International. With over 2,000 certified brands, it is one of the most widely adopted cruelty-free labels globally, spanning cosmetics, personal care, and household products. Its rigorous supply chain requirements — covering ingredients, not just finished products — give it a credibility advantage over self-declared cruelty-free claims and some competing labels.

The cruelty-free market has grown substantially over the past decade, driven by rising consumer awareness of animal welfare, the growth of vegan and ethical consumerism, and increasing regulatory scrutiny of animal testing in the EU and other markets. The EU's ban on animal testing for cosmetics (fully in force since 2013) has accelerated global brand adoption of cruelty-free standards, and Leaping Bunny has benefited from this trend. However, the program faces ongoing tension around brands that sell in mainland China, where animal testing has historically been required for imported cosmetics — a policy that has been partially relaxed in recent years for certain product categories.

Leaping Bunny's primary competitor in the US is PETA's Beauty Without Bunnies program, which is free to join and has a larger number of listed brands but is widely considered less rigorous due to its reliance on self-attestation without third-party audit provisions. For brands seeking international recognition, Cruelty Free International's Leaping Bunny (operated in the UK) is essentially the same program under a different regional operator — the two organizations are partners. The growing consumer demand for transparent, independently verified ethical claims continues to drive interest in Leaping Bunny certification, particularly among premium and indie beauty brands.

The Leaping Bunny Program was established in 1996 by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC), a coalition of eight North American animal protection organizations including the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS), the Humane Society of the United States, and the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies. It was created to address consumer confusion caused by a proliferation of inconsistent and unverified cruelty-free claims on product packaging, and to establish a single, harmonized standard that brands could meet and consumers could trust.

The program introduced the now-iconic Leaping Bunny logo as a unified symbol of cruelty-free commitment, replacing a fragmented landscape of individual organization logos. Over time, Leaping Bunny expanded its reach through a formal partnership with Cruelty Free International (formerly the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection), which operates the program in the UK and Europe under the same Corporate Standard of Compassion for Animals. This partnership made the Leaping Bunny logo one of the few cruelty-free marks with genuine transatlantic recognition. The program has grown from a small roster of committed brands to over 2,000 certified companies, and its free consumer shopping app — updated daily — has become a widely used tool for ethical shoppers.