In the EU, rapidly changing regulations are increasingly a focus for many cosmetics companies and ingredients suppliers.
Regulations that address consumer safety and sustainability concerns appear to be top of the European Commission’s list. On 20 November it published the regulation amending the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) regulation on the Official Journal of the European Union (EU).
The CLP Regulation itself contains rules for classifying, labelling and packaging chemical products
The updates are set to enter into force on 10th December (20 days after its publication on the official journal) and there will be transition periods to give businesses time to change their practices.
The changes to know about
The major updates include:
- Product labels will need to be designed to be easier to read, with a minimum font size and specific typeface, line spacing and black copy on a white backdrop.
- There will be more possibilities for companies to offer labelling on a fold-out label, which must contain specific information on the front, inside and back of the label.
- Product labels in e-commerce and advertising will need to adhere to stricter requirements for chemical substances. For example a ban on claims like ‘non toxic’ ‘ecological’.
- The revised regulation also includes possibility of digital labelling for additional information.
- The classification of complex substances (consisting of several components or mixtures) will be subject to clearer rules that will come into force from 1 July 2026.
- Suppliers in the EU will need to ensure the compliance of substances sold online by any economic operators they work with outside of the EU.
- There are new rules and conditions specifically for refillable and ‘buy-in-bulk’ products.
- There will be an update of annexes for substances that already meet criteria for new hazard classes.
- Several measures for regulators to encourage the faster adoption of harmonised classifications in future.
Many of the new changes will come into force from 1 July 2026, while some won’t come into play until 1 January 2027.
“Supporting the future of natural ingredients”
The UK trade body for the beauty and personal care industry, the Cosmetics Perfumery & Toiletry Association (CTPA) noted that “New criteria have been introduced for classifying chemicals with properties such as endocrine disruption, persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity, and persistent, mobile, and toxic characteristics.”
“These changes aim to improve hazard identification and risk management across various industries, including cosmetics,” it said on its website.
The director general of EU trade body Cosmetics Europe, John Chave, said the organisation “very much welcomed” the fact that the revised regulation includes specific provisions for the classification rules of substances with more than one constituent (‘MOCS’) derived from plants or parts of plants.
“This decision will support the future of the natural ingredients used in cosmetics and fragrances – helping to meet bio-economic, social and competitiveness goals,’ he concluded.