New European Cosmetics Regulation: are you ready?

. The official start date is 11 July 2013 and the Regulation will replace the existing Cosmetics Directive, EU 76/768/EEC. Upon reviewing the Regulation, it is clear one of the primary aims was to effectively ‘tidy up’ some of the wording from the existing Cosmetics Directive. Several of the points were previously potentially ambiguous and certainly interpreted differently across EU member states. A second key aim appeared to be to further scrutinise the safety of cosmetic products through added clarity and guidelines. The new Regulation contains several changes and new features compared to the existing Cosmetics Directive that will impact on the activities and attitudes of companies in the cosmetic industry. The aim of this article is to explore these major changes and features, providing details from the Regulation wording itself, and to discuss the significance. In particular this article will focus on the ‘information trail’ relating to cosmetic products and how the wording in the new Regulation impacts companies in the EU.

 A brief overview of how to satisfy the new Cosmetic Regulation

 In order to satisfy the new Regulation the following steps need to be followed, most of which should sound very familiar (as they are identical to the existing Cosmetics Directive) but with some notable additions: Cosmetic products entering the marketplace must be safe2 as demonstrated through a Safety Assessment3 and completion of a Product Safety Report.4 A Product Information File must be kept and be made available to relevant authorities.5 Details of all cosmetic products must be logged on the new Cosmetic Products Notification Portal (CPNP).6 It is fair to say while the majority of these additions should be seen as ‘normal service’, some of the elements relating to the Product Information Files and the introduction of the CPNP certainly signal key changes and will have an impact on the industry. We will be exploring these elements in more detail. It is important to note that from 11 July 2013, the new Regulation does apply to existing cosmetic products, not just new products. That specifically means safety information accordingly to Articles 10 and 11 of the Cosmetic Regulation must be readily accessible from 11 July 2013 for all cosmetic products available for sale in EU, regardless of when they were launched.