Changes in the European Union
Microplastics
A microplastic restriction proposal within REACH regulation was made: all types of intentionally added microplastics are concerned. They would be forbidden when exceeding 0.01% by weight in mixtures. It should be noted that cosmetics products would benefit from transition periods.
- 2021/2022 for microspheres,
- 4 years from the date of entry into force for rinse-off products,
- 6 years from the date of entry into force for wash-off products.
Exemptions for some substances and certain types of mixtures will be implemented but in these cases, labelling and reporting requirements would be put into place too.
Microbial safety of packagings
Cosmetic Valley proposed a guideline allowing to evaluate the level of microbial safety provided by cosmetic products packagings. They will be classified in 6 categories, from 0 to 5, 5 being the safest packaging.
The guideline is organised like an ISO norm and offers, amongst other things, a testing process,and logos allowing for an easy identification of the risk level.
IFRA 49
The 49th amendment of IFRA should be notified on 10th January 2020 at the latest. This amendment is based on RIFM’s new safety evaluation process. It includes a revised methodology for a quantitative risk assessment.
The transition period will be of 13 months for new formulas and 25 months for existing formulas. EcoMundo will publish a dedicated article to this new amendment to explain it in details.
France’s compliance checks
The DGCCRF’s 2019 compliance checks focused mainly on “Bio” and “Natural” claims, as well as on the illegal use of nanomaterials which were neither listed on the cosmetic regulation’s annexes nor notified on the CPNP portal.
The controls scheduled for 2020 will also focus on claims (“Bio”, “Natural”, “Free from”, “With”...) as well as on the use of prohibited substances from the Omnibus list and, once again on the illegal use of nanomaterials.
Some international changes
Russia
Starting on 1st December, identification codes for perfumes and eaux de toilette will be mandatory. Each product unit will now need to bear a unique identification code generated by a centralised system, according to Febea. The transition period proposed by Russia runs until June 2020 but could be extended to September 2021.
Saudi Arabia
In October 2019, Saudi Arabia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European Union in order to promote a harmonised system. With this aim in mind, the SFDA trained 8 inspectors in Europe in order to carry out controls on the Saudi market. Additionally, the implementation of the OXO regulation on oxodegradable plastics was voted and should come into force on April 2020.
China
New requirements could be implemented in China, depending on the advances made in the different draft legislations. Among them are the qualifications restriction of the person habilitated to carry out tests, from 1st November, but also some exemptions from animal testing for some products: non-special cosmetics (with the exception of baby products).
Other regulations are being drafted and could impact the export of cosmetic products to China.
Other countries such as Indonesia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, etc. were discussed: for details on these countries’ cosmetic regulations, do not hesitate to contact EcoMundo’s experts.
Chartres Congress
Key event in the cosmetics sector the Chartres Congress, gathers many professionals, representatives from major cosmetic brands and support functions, as well as official EU representatives.
Our experts attended the 17th edition of Perfumes & Cosmetics Congress on 6th and 7th November, which was dedicated to regulatory challenges.
We are looking forward to attending the 2020 edition, which will be, like each year organised in November by the Cosmetic Valley.
