COSMETIC PRODUCTS

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Cosmetic products should be safe under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use. In particular, risks to human health should not be justified through a risk-benefit analysis.

There is a need to achieve transparency regarding the ingredients used in cosmetic products. This transparency should be achieved by indicating on the packaging the ingredients used in cosmetic products. Where it is not possible for practical reasons to indicate the ingredients on the packaging, the relevant indications should be attached so that the consumer has this information at his disposal.

Cosmetic products shall be made available on the market only if the container and packaging of cosmetic products bear the following particulars, in indelible, easily legible and visible characters:

(…) d) special precautions for use, at least those listed in Annexes III to VI, as well as any indications concerning special precautions to be observed for cosmetic products for professional use; (…)

(f) the function of the cosmetic product, unless it is apparent from its presentation;

g) the list of ingredients. This information may appear only on the package. The list shall be preceded by the word “ingredients”.

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Article 20 of Regulation No. 1223/2009, entitled .Product Declarations, states in paragraphs 1 and 2 as follows:

In the labelling, making available on the market and advertising of cosmetic products, no words, names, trademarks, images or other signs, whether figurative or not, must be used that attribute to the products characteristics or functions that they do not possess.

1) Article 19(1)(f) of Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on cosmetic products must be interpreted as meaning that the indication of the “function of the cosmetic product” which must appear, by virtue of that provision, on the container and packaging of the product must be capable of clearly informing the consumer of the use and manner of use of the product in order to ensure that the product can be used safely by consumers without harming their health, and cannot therefore be limited to mentioning only the purposes for which the product is intended to be used, as provided for in Article 2(1)(a) of that regulation. It is for the national court to ascertain, in the light of the characteristics and properties of the product and the expectations of the average consumer, who is reasonably well informed and reasonably observant and circumspect, the nature and extent of the information which must be included in that regard on the container and packaging of the product in order that it may be used without endangering human health. Article 19(2) of Regulation No 1223/2009 must be interpreted as meaning that the particulars referred to in Article 19(1)(d), (f) and (g) of that regulation, that is to say, those relating respectively to special precautions for the use of the cosmetic product, to the function of that product and to its ingredients, may not appear in a company catalog to which reference is made by means of the symbol referred to in point 1 of Annex VII to that regulation, affixed to the packaging or container of that product.

Court of Justice of the European Union  C-667/19 (17/12/2020)