On 29 July 2024, the US FDA announced the introduction of two new features on Cosmetics Direct, its electronic platform dedicated to the registration of establishments and products. It is now possible to discontinue a product, and also to relist it in the database.
The listing of products (their declaration to the FDA) was made compulsory by the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act (MoCRA).
The discontinuation of a product allows responsible persons to suspend the notification of products previously listed in Cosmetics Direct when they are no longer on the market.
The relisting function allows them to re-register cosmetic products that have previously been withdrawn from the Cosmetics Direct list and are now back on the market.
And the FDA explains the advantage of these new features: “In Cosmetics Direct, discontinuing a product differs from deleting a product. When a product is discontinued, it remains in the Structured Product Labeling (SPL) file and can be relisted. However, once a product is deleted, it is permanently removed from the SPL file and cannot be retrieved for relisting.”
Source
• FDA Announces Registration and Listing Updates: The Release of New Discontinuation/Relisting Features in Cosmetics Direct, Cosmetics Constituent Update, FDA, 29 July 2024