This is the first concrete effect of the implementation of the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA) voted at the end of 2022 in the US. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just announced that it will stop accepting submissions to the Voluntary Cosmetic Registration Program (VCRP) as of 27 March 2023.
In its announcement, the FDA recals tha the was established in 1972 as a way for FDA to obtain the best estimate of information available about cosmetic products and ingredients, their frequency of use, and businesses engaged in their manufacture and distribution, voluntarily, from manufacturers, packers, and distributors of cosmetic products in commercial distribution. The VCRP was also open to foreign cosmetics companies whose products are exported for sale in the U.S.
But because MoCRA requires certain companies to register their facilities and list their products with FDA, FDA is creating a new system to handle the large number of submissions that will result. FDA therefore will no longer use the voluntary registration system, and is no longer accepting and processing submissions to the VCRP.
FDA request that cosmetics companies wait to register with FDA until it announce the availability of the new system.
And all will have to do so since information in the VCRP will not be transferred to the program being developed for facility registrations and product listings mandated by MoCRA.
Source
• FDA Has Stopped Accepting Submissions to the Voluntary Cosmetic Registration Program (VCRP), CFSAN Constituent Updates, FDA, 27 March 2023
