With Brexit, the United Kingdom has also regained its regulatory independence, and this has not spared the cosmetics sector. After initially copying the text of Regulation 1223/2009 identically, it is now adding more and more specific features and changes to it… resulting in increasingly notable divergences. At the Regulatory Conference organised by Cosmed on 27 and 28 March 2024, Carys Ayton-Smith, from the CTPA (Cosmetic, Toiletry and Perfumery Association), presented an overview of the current British regulatory landscape and the changes to come.
The current regulatory framework
After leaving the European Union, the United Kingdom first adopted a comprehensive set of regulations, the Product Safety and Metrology Act, which incorporated much of the European Union’s legislation on product safety. In particular, it included the Cosmetics Regulation, which was copied identically.
Things have moved on very quickly, however, and it is now the UK Assimilated Regulation that you need to refer to. It is still largely the same text, but with a few adjustments, such as the obligation to have a Responsible Person (RP) in the UK (who must have an address in the UK), or the creation of a notification portal, the SCPN (Submit Cosmetic Product Notification) in place of the European CPNP. “The obligations of the Responsible Person and the information to be provided on the notification portal are the same,” Carys Ayton-Smith said, *“but it has become a separate procedure.”
This “assimilated” regulation is supplemented by a “Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations”, essentially for the use of the competent authorities, since it concerns their powers to implement the text.
The Windsor Framework
A trickier point to grasp is the status of Northern Ireland.
“Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, while …
