The marketing of cosmetic products in Europe is governed by Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009, which aims to guarantee consumer safety while harmonizing requirements across the European Union.
Article 3 of the regulation stipulates that “a cosmetic product made available on the market is safe for human health when used under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use”.
Thus, before placing their cosmetic products on the market, manufacturers must be able to guarantee that :
- the composition of its products complies with the requirements of the cosmetics regulation (and its annexes) as well as legislative and regulatory requirements;
- during the manufacturing process, its products have complied with the good practices set out in Article 8 of the regulation;
- the Product Information File (PIF) contains the appropriate information to enable the safety of the product to be assessed and a safety report to be drawn up in accordance with Annex I of the cosmetics regulation.
Ingredient suppliers play a key role in the cosmetics manufacturing chain. Although they are not directly responsible for placing the finished product on the market, they must comply with a number of requirements to guarantee the conformity of the ingredients they supply.
In particular, they must provide manufacturers or formulators with detailed information on ingredients: Safety Data Sheet (SDS), Certificates of conformity, Origin of raw materials…
Suppliers of cosmetic ingredients are essential partners for manufacturers. Their regulatory compliance, transparency and rigorous documentation of ingredient quality are essential to guarantee the marketing of safe cosmetic products that comply with European legislation.