The regulatory framework is an ever-changing field. And as if the rules specifically provided for cosmetic products were not enough, other texts also apply to them… although cosmetic companies are not always fully aware of them. That is the case with the new "Product Safety and Market Surveillance Package", two regulations which should enter into force on January 1, 2015, and that Sébastien Louvion, of the Mayer Brown legal advice firm, came to present at the 11th edition of the Perfumes and Cosmetics Congress organized by the Cosmetic Valley.
The speaker started with a short reminder of the European regulatory framework related to the cosmetic sector, giving a few dates.
• 1976: Directive on cosmetic products (76/768/EEC).
• 1985: Directive on liability for defective products (85/374/EEC).
• 1992: Directive on general product safety (GPSD), modified in 2001 (2001/95/EC).
• 2008: "New regulatory framework" (including Regulation 765/2008 on market surveillance, and Decision 768/2008 for the marketing of products).
• 2009: Regulation 1223/2009 on cosmetic products (implementing Decision 768/2008) adopted.
• 2013: New Cosmetics Regulation entered into force.
“All these texts are applicable today”, Sébastien Louvion explained before carrying on with the modifications to come, since revisions of the GSPD and the New Framework have been initiated since 2011.
The new Package to come
The European Commission adopted a "Product Safety and Market Surveillance Package" on February 13, 2013 to standardise and harmonise the different rules included in various regulatory frameworks, which sometimes overlap.
It is mainly composed of two texts:
• the regulation on Consumer Product Safety and Repealing (CPSR) project, which repeals and replaces the GSPD,
• the regulation on market surveillance (MSR) project, which repeals and replaces Chapter III in Regulation 765/2008.
Both texts are to enter into …
