Cosmetic Products you import to UK or EU must comply with various safety cosmetic compliance in the UK. If you are selling in Great Britain, then you must comply with UK regulations. Similarly, if you are selling in Northern Ireland region, then you must comply with EU regulations.
You must ensure that your products comply with Schedule 34 of UK regulations and Regulation EC 1223/2009 of the EU regulations to sell them or give away free in these regions.
To comply with these regulations, you need to follow a step-wise approach for placing your products successfully in the UK/EU market. Here are six steps we recommend and follow for placing our client's cosmetics in these regions.
You appoint a person residing from within UK/EU as your responsible person. If you are a resident, you can yourself be the responsible person for your cosmetic products. A natural or legal person is appointed as a responsible person. This person acts as a liaison between your company and all authorities.
This person represents your products and acts as a
for approval to place your product in UK/EU markets and maintain the product in these markets.
The role demands proactiveness due to the multiplicity of responsibilities. Appointing a person from the relevant field and relevant knowledge is a wiser option. You can also assign this task to a specialized firm providing cosmetic regulatory services. They have the necessary knowledge and rapport, which helps you get an easy way through.
Product Information File (PIF) helps in smoothening the pre-market notification of the product. It includes various technical and product details such as:
Once you have appointed your responsible person, the next step is to review the product composition. There is a long list of Annexes of regulations for launching any product in the market.
You check the compliance of the formula by comparing them with the ingredients listed in the Annexes of the regulations. You should do this process frequently several times a year.
You can use some software to do this if your formula is complex. The software makes the process quick and accurate. You can also recruit a firm to do this. The consulting firm will check the formula and present the analysis to you for your reference. You will not need to involve in this crucial and tedious regulatory process and keep your focus on business growth and expansion.
You need to check how various ingredients in your formula react at different temperatures or coming in contact with each other. So many times, two elements stay stable only in specific conditions, but when the suitable conditions alter, they may behave differently.
Also, ideally, the chemicals included won’t be kept in the same conditions forever. So, it is necessary to check the stability of all the elements together in various conditions. So, the cosmetic product’s quality doesn’t deteriorate drastically under different conditions.
When a cosmetic is manufactured, various small tests are done to check the reactivity of two ingredients together or the effects of the environment when exposed to different weather conditions.
Tests check the reactivity of each ingredient on the skin or part where they are to be used. These tests are done on animals at first. This data is also necessary and should be kept as a part of PIF.
You also need to keep a list of raw materials used in the manufacturing of your cosmetic product. Every ingredient can be specific, so details like in which condition they were grown and what source was used are also necessary to keep in PIF.
Once PIF is ready, the next step is to create cosmetic labels that comply with the related norms. Some important information that is mandatory to mention on the product label are:
If you are exporting the products for selling in another country or procuring to sell something from another region, you must include a translation to the native language. You should also translate marketing content and claims.
Any cosmetic product goes through a thorough assessment done by a qualified assessment officer. The assessment report has two parts A & B of the cosmetic product safety report (CPSR). Part A lists the tests done, whereas in part B assessor performs the assessment based on information indicated in part A.
The tests that verified the successful and effectual performance of the product without any safety threats are noted in Safety Reports as referred to in Article 10(1).
You need to put all cosmetic products on a European cosmetic portal to notify the authorities electronically before selling them in the UK/EU region. This portal is set up by UK cosmetic compliance authority to impose compliance with cosmetic product rules and regulations in UK/EU.
With the cosmetic products notification portal, you can place and market your product in 31 countries of the EU. One notification notifies the European commission and helps you sell your product in Europe. However noteworthy that this step is done only if your product is found compliant with the relevant legislation.
Once you have handled the product review process, you need to start working on a product information file. Though there is no set format, the product description must generally help attribute the PIF to the cosmetic product. This file must be easy to understand, available in electronic or paper format, and kept by the designated responsible person for ten years.
A PIF contains
UK/EU markets offer lucrative exposure to cosmetic business owners (manufacturers and sellers). Selling your product is difficult in the EU market due to several compliances and restrictions.
Many consulting firms help enter the EU market, but it's important to collaborate with an established and reputed brand like GCRS. We are providing our cosmetic regulatory services since 2008 and have helped various SMEs place their cosmetic products in the EU market.
We can help you too in getting hassle-free entry of your products to the EU market. We are well-versed with the regulations necessary to comply with for cosmetics industry. To take our help give us a call at
029 2233 8757.