Regulations affecting Asia-to-EU exports

Cosmetic legislations: Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 (cosmetic products) and Regulation (EU) 655/2013 (cosmetic product claims)

The Cosmetic Directive 76/768/EC, which dated back to 1976, was replaced in 2009 by Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on finished cosmetic products.  According to this new regulation, a cosmetic product is any substance or mixture intended to be placed in contact with the external parts of the human body (epidermis, hair system, nails, lips and external genital organs) or with the teeth and the mucous membranes of the oral cavity with a view exclusively or mainly to cleaning them, perfuming them, changing their appearance, protecting them, keeping them in good condition or correcting body odours.

With the Cosmetic Product Regulation in place, the safety of the consumers shall be ensured due to stricter safety requirements and the introduction of the so-called “Responsible Person”. The Responsible Person is accountable for the safety of the cosmetic product and has the obligation to implement a system to record serious undesirable effects and report such to the competent authority of the member state in which the serious undesirable effect was experienced. If applicable, the national authorities will forward the information on undesirable effects to the other EU-member states. In addition to the general safety requirements, stricter rules for nanomaterials used in cosmetic productshave been implemented. Cosmetic productscontaining nanomaterials have to be notifiedto the European Commission six month before placing the cosmetic product on the market. In case concerns are raised by the Commission, the nanomaterial may be subjected to a full safety assessment by the Scientific Committee of Consumer Safety (SCCS).