During the Congress on Perfumes & Cosmetics, held in Chartres on November 23 and 24, 2011, the French Agency for the sanitary safety of health products (Afssaps - now ANSM) presented a report on its inspections on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), performed in 2010 and 2011. An opportunity to deliver its advice.
François Bruneaux, head of the Inspection and Market Control Department at Afssaps, with Vanessa Picot, inspector for cosmetics and tattoo products, reviewed the inspections and gave details on the list of the most common non-compliances. With three inspectors, the Agency has carried out 53 GMP and/or regulatory inspections in 2010, and already 52 (out of the 55 planned) in 2011. This includes the campaigns performed with the French General Directorate for Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF, in French), which point out, every year, a specific kind of products: in 2010, cosmetics for pregnant women and the "manufacturing kits" used for home-made cosmetics, and, in 2011, products for men.
In line with the programme announced last year at the same Congress, the Afssaps has put the pressure on GMP. That is why 17 inspections in 2010, and 31 in 2011 have been performed to check the compliance with the ISO 22716 standard.
How are the sites chosen?
To choose which sites to inspect, the Agency analyses the risk factor, which it evaluates on the basis of the size of the production site and the kind of products manufactured there. Out of the 36 sites already controlled at the …
