Following the action already taken by England, Wales and Scotland (as by many other Member States and third countries), Northern Ireland now notify the WTO of its draft regulation aimed at to prohibit microbeads as an ingredient in the manufacture of rinse-off personal care products.
Notification date
14 May 2018
Products covered
Cosmetics and Personal Care Products
Title of the notified document
The Environmental Protection (Microbeads) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2018
Description of content
The draft regulations prohibit the use of plastic microbeads as an ingredient in the manufacture of rinse-off personal care products and the sale of any such products containing microbeads.
In the draft regulations:
• “microbead” means any water-insoluble solid plastic particle of less than or equal to 5mm in any dimension; and
• “rinse-off personal care product” means any substance, or mixture of substances manufactured for the purpose of being applied to any relevant human body part in the course of any personal care treatment, by an application which entails at its completion the prompt and specific removal of the product (or any residue of the product) by washing or rinsing with water, rather than leaving it to wear off or wash off, or be absorbed or shed, in the course of time;
and for this purpose -
(a) a “personal care treatment” means any process of cleaning, protecting or perfuming a relevant human body part, maintaining or restoring its condition or changing its appearance; and
(b) a “relevant human body part” …
