The first day of conferences of the 2017 edition of the Chartres Congress ended with the results of the controls carried out by the DGCCRF (French General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs, and Fraud Control) in 2016. Raphaëlle Bove, Head of the office in charge of products and health benefits, presented them and announced the themes for the next campaigns.
After reiterating the role of the DGCCRF, its objectives and human and technical means, Raphaëlle Bove got to the heart of the matter by making an update on the controls carried out in 2017. She also provided some guidance on the investigations scheduled for 2018.
2017 priorities
This year, the DGCCRF investigators had four key points in their sights:
• Legal and commercial relationships between prime manufacturers and subcontractors
• Product safety assessment
• Presence of carbon black in a few cosmetics
• Non-withdrawal from the market of skincare products containing prohibited substances
Initially, the last point was not part of the inspectors’ 2017 investigation plan. It is actually the media controversy triggered by a study of the UFC Que Choisir magazine published on June 7, 2017, that was the starting point of a complementary investigation. Raphaëlle Bove still reminded that
‘the actions taken by the DGCCRF are not dictated by the consumer press, but that given the repercussion of the article, it was essential to reinforce our controls.’
Almost 400 cosmetics suspected of containing prohibited preservatives (Methylisothiazolinone and Butylparaben) were slammed by the medium.
The DGCCRF quickly responded: on June 19, 2017, the investigators were given the mission to …
