Global Regulation of Cosmetic Products
Cosmetic Regulation in the United States
P&G Beauty & Grooming abides by the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) that requires every cosmetic or personal care product in the U.S. to be safe for consumer use. Specifically, the law requires products' individual ingredients be substantiated as be safe and product labeling be truthful and not misleading.
The FDA has legal authority to regulate the safety of cosmetic products. In the past, it has exercised this power to limit or prohibit ingredients that it considers to be unsafe. Cosmetic and personal care companies work closely with the FDA to ensure that all cosmetic and personal care ingredients and products are safe. As a result of the FDA's high level of involvement in regulation, cosmetic products are among the safest consumer products. For more information please refer to the sites below:
- FDA Product and Ingredient Safety
- FDA Cosmetic Labeling and Label Claims
- FDA Authority to Regulate Cosmetics
With the support of the FDA and funding from the cosmetic industry, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) serves as an independent, non-profit group of scientific experts that thoroughly reviews and assesses the safety of cosmetic ingredients in an open, unbiased manner and publishes the results in widely available, peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Cosmetic Regulation in the European Union
In the European Union, cosmetics are regulated under the 1976 E.U. Cosmetics Directive and its amendments. The Directive requires that cosmetics cause no damage to human health when applied under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use.
The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), formerly called the Scientific Committee for Consumer Products (SCCP), is the scientific advisory body to the European Commission (EC) that reviews a particular ingredient in question and issues an opinion prior to any regulation changes by the EC. For more details please refer to the following sites:
- The Cosmetics Directive (COLIPA Web site)
- SCCS
In both the U.S. and the E.U., there is no requirement for pre-market review or approval of cosmetic products by a government regulatory agency. However, in both regions, the manufacturer or distributor of a product is responsible for ensuring that it is safe for its intended use. This is a responsibility P&G takes very seriously.
In most countries outside the E.U. and U.S., regulatory control for the safety of cosmetic and personal care products is generally accomplished through pre-market registration and approval. A number of countries are transitioning from the pre-market registration requirement toward notification and post-market surveillance systems. Many of these countries have "negative" (i.e., prohibited) and "positive" (i.e., approved) ingredient lists for cosmetics - often patterned after such lists in the E.U., U.S. and Japan. Learn more about cosmetic safety regulations in other countries.