It was announced, it has just been opened on November 12, 2019. Since the Opinion of the SCCS (Scientific Committee for Consumer Safety) in 2012, which recommended that consumers be informed of the presence of additional allergenic fragrances in cosmetic products, the question has arisen as to how to add dozens of INCI names to the ingredient lists. On the packaging? Via online labelling? The latter option seems to be favoured, and the Commission is now asking all interested parties to indicate their preference in this public consultation.
As the European Commission points out in the introduction to this consultation, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety proposed in its opinion of 2012 that the consumer is informed about additional fragrance allergens in cosmetic products.
And it poses the problem in these terms: “Labelling additional fragrance allergens on the package would cause problems of readability of ingredient lists. The e-labelling (labelling online) of fragrance allergens would be an alternative option to the current on-pack labelling, but would require that the consumer has access to the internet in the shop (for example through their smartphone). In the present consultation, the Commission services would like to seek views on the preferred option of the labelling of additional fragrance allergens present in cosmetic products.”
The European Commission therefore invites consumers (a special focus is on consumers allergic to fragrance allergens and those who do not possess smartphones), medical professionals/researchers in the health sector, companies and business associations as welle as public authorities to participate in this public consultation by completing an online questionnaire.
The three options under consideration
The Opinion of 26-27 June 2012 of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) recommended that the consumer is informed about additional fragrance allergens …