GRASSE, France — The delicate hybrids thriving in the balmy climes of Provence, southern France’s traditional perfume region, include sweet jasmine, May roses — and fresh layers of artificial human skin.

Scientists here are working feverishly to develop new technologies to test cosmetics before a European Union ban on animal testing begins in March 2009.

These advanced materials — including reconstructed eye tissue and tiny circles of skin developed from donor cells harvested from cosmetic operations — are a vital part of the industry’s future as it faces rapidly tightening European regulations, rules that apply to any company wishing to sell in the 27-nation European Union.

The looming European ban is not only forcing multinational companies to adopt new practices. It is also bringing together regulators in Brussels with agencies from the world’s other large cosmetics markets — the Food and Drug Administration in the United States and the Ministry of Health in Japan — to harmonize regulation.