The petition was launched by a group of soap makers, including cold process soap makers, to denounce the claims “Soap-free” and “Soap without soap” as greenwashing and misleading to consumers.
In support of their demand for a ban on these claims, the petitioners put forward several arguments to explain their strongly negative impacts.
Regulatory arguments
For the authors of the petition, these claims clearly do not comply with the principles set out in EU Regulation 655/2013 “laying down Common Criteria which cosmetic claims must satisfy in order to be used”.
Denigrating allegations
As soaps are a family of authorised and regulated products, claiming their absence is tantamount to denigrating them, especially as it is then implied that they are “irritating and drying” or that they “should be avoided in cases of skin sensitivity”.
This is despite the fact that the word “soap” does not refer to a single chemical substance, but to a set of finished products whose formulations can be very different.
Unfair competition
All soaps placed on the European market are subject to the same rules, and in particular must be accompanied by a Product Information File, which (among other things) provides proof that the product complies with regulatory requirements, particularly in terms of skin irritation or sensitisation.
The claim “soap-free” is thus, for the authors of the petition, an act of unfair competition from manufacturers of formulas …
