ECHA looks to revise octocrilene in cosmetics

The meeting agenda of the Swedish European Chemicals Agency reveals that a preliminary discussion on the evaluation and potential amendment of the substance was proposed.

The Agency notes that technical corrections to its' working procedures could be even better but requires more detailed evaluations on a number of substances.

Octocrilene in cosmetics ​

Due to its low toxicity, Octocrilene is used as an oilmiscible UVB filter that is approved worldwide for the use in sun care preparations to protect the skin against the harmful effects of UV radiation.   

It is recommended to combine Octocrilene with other oil soluble UV filters to obtain high Sun Protection Factor (SPF) values. 

The same substance also finds use as a UV absorber to protect plastics and coatings from degradation caused by UV radiation.  

EU making efforts to update regulations​

Just last month the European Commission finally agreed to hold a meeting that will allow member states and other interested parties to see and discuss options for regulating nanomaterials.

Officials have confirmed that the meeting will be held over the summer where they plan to reveal nanomaterial regulations drawn up by its different departments.

The news has been a long time coming for the industry as the Committee had initially promised to present final proposals for amending REACH’s annexes to take better account of nanomaterials back in October, and then again in time for a stakeholder meeting last week which was also missed.

After some member states began developing national nanomaterial registers, the EC announced it would look into improving transparency on nanomaterial use.

The options currently being considered include impact assessment, recommendations on best practice for member states wanting to establish national registers, an EU observatory drawing publicly available information from other sources and two types of registry.

The registry options require each manufacturer to register the nanomaterials they use on an annual basis as well as the use-based approach where substances, mixtures and articles intended to release nanomaterials have to be registered.