Cosmetics Directive

Directive 76/768/EEC
European Union directive
Title Directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to cosmetic products
Made by Council
Made under Art. 100 (EEC)[1]
Journal reference L262, 1976-09-27, pp. 169–200
History
Date made 1976-07-27
Came into force 1976-07-30
Implementation date 1978-01-30
Preparative texts
Commission proposal Com 72/0851 Final
EESC opinion C60, 1973-07-26, p. 16
EP opinion OJ C40, 1974-04-08, p. 71
Other legislation
Amended by External list
Current legislation

Council Directive 76/768/EEC of 1976-07-27 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to cosmetic products[2] (as amended) is the main European Union law on the safety of cosmetics. It was made under Art. 100 (ex Art. 94) of the Treaty of Rome. By agreement, it is also applicable in the European Economic Area.[3]

The directive defines a "cosmetic product" as "any substance or preparation intended for placing in contact with the various external parts of the human body (epidermis, hair system, nails, lips and external genital organs) or with the teeth and the mucous membranes of the oral cavity with a view exclusively or principally to cleaning them, perfuming them or protecting them in order to keep them in good condition, change their appearance or correct body odours." (Art. 1.1)

The main part of the directive is the different lists of substances in the annexes:

The annexes are regularly amended (57 times up until April 2008) to take account of new data on the safety of particular substances.[4]

Animal testing

The 7th amendment to the law[5] introduced provisions in relation to animal testing. It introduced a legal requirement to the labelling of 26 specific ingredients at certain concentration thresholds.[6][7] It also prohibited the animal testing for cosmetic products since 2004 and cosmetic ingredients since March 2009. The amendment also prohibited, since 11 March 2009, to market cosmetic products containing ingredients which have been tested on animals.[8] The amendment does not prohibit companies to use animal testing to fulfill regulatory requirements in other countries.

References

  1. The old Art. 100 of the EEC treaty has since been renumbered to Art. 94.
  2. Council Directive 76/768/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to cosmetic products. OJEC L262 of 1976-09-27, pp. 169–200.
  3. Art. 23 and Chapter XVI of Annex II, "Agreement on the European Economic Area". Archived from the original on 2009-08-02. signed in Oporto, 1992-05-02; came into force 1994-01-01.
  4. See, for example, Commission Directive 2008/42/EC of 3 April 2008 amending Council Directive 76/768/EEC, concerning cosmetic products, for the purpose of adapting Annexes II and III thereto to technical progress. OJEC L93 of 2008-04-04, pp. 13–23. Corrigendum. OJEC L136 of 2008-05-24, p. 52.
  5. Directive 2003/15/EC of 27 February 2003 is the 7th amendment to the law.
  6. 0.001% (10 mg/kg) for leave-on products and 0.01% (100 mg/kg) for rinse-off products.
  7. "Technical Guidance Document for the Determination of Fragrance Materials in Cosmetic Products, 2006". Cosmetics Europe. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  8. "Full EU ban on animal testing for cosmetics enters into force". European Commission. March 11, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to EU cosmetics symbols.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.