At its plenary meeting on 30-31 March 2021, the SCCS adopted the 11th revision of its Notes of Guidance for the Testing of Cosmetic Ingredients and their Safety Evaluation. Compared to the previous version, a focus was made on exposure and the application of alternative methods, more specifically on non-animal methods/new approach methodology (NAM).
The “Notes of Guidance for the Testing of Cosmetic Ingredients and Their Safety Evaluation by the SCCS” is a document compiled by the members of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS, replacing the former SCCP, SCCNFP and SCC).
The document contains relevant information on the different aspects of testing and safety evaluation of cosmetic substances in Europe. The emphasis of this guidance is on cosmetic ingredients, although some guidance is also indirectly given for the safety assessment of finished products.
It is designed to provide guidance to public authorities and to the cosmetic industry in order to improve harmonised compliance with the current cosmetic EU legislation. An important development in recent years was the full implementation of the cosmetic legislation, Regulation (EC) No.1223/2009, meaning that the animal testing and marketing bans fully apply from 2013 onwards: no in vivo testing of finished products after 11 March 2004; no in vivo testing for local toxicity after 11 March 2009 and no in vivo testing for repeated dose toxicity (including sensitisation) toxicokinetics and developmental toxicity from 11 March 2013 onwards for the purpose of cosmetics.
For this reason, the SCCS has closely followed the progress made with regard to the development …
