New UK regulatory landscape for cosmetics
Dr Emma Meredith , director-general of the Cosmetic , Toiletry & Perfumery Association , looks at how post-Brexit changes are impacting suppliers to the UK cosmetics sector
The process by which the UK left the EU , as with many areas of sectoral legislation , involved the copy-and-paste of EU legislation in UK law . In the cosmetics sector , this was done through Schedule 34 of the Product Safety & Metrology Statutory Instrument ( SI ). This is now referred to as the UK Cosmetics Regulation and it has applied since 1 January 2021 . The Cosmetic , Toiletry & Perfumery Association ( CTPA ), which is the trade association of the UK cosmetics industry , had strongly pushed for this . We saw no reason why the industry would want anything less strict and robust in the UK than the EU framework , which is seen as a gold standard among many other regions of the world . The adaptation of the text introduced some modifications , such as making reference to the Secretary of State , rather than the European Commission ( EC ), and the Office for Product Safety & Standards ( OPSS ). This is the new UK regulator for cosmetic standards .
UK regulatory framework
Under the transposition of EU law into the UK , all of the key requirements of EU legislation have been adopted into the UK ( Figure 1 ). However , simply because the basic requirements are the same , it should not be taken as read that there are no differences between the EU and the UK . For products to be marketed both in the EU27 and the UK , some duplication of effort is also unavoidable . One important point is that , like UK REACH , the UK Cosmetics Regulation applies only to Great Britain ( GB , i . e . England , Scotland and Wales ). As with REACH and many other items , Northern Ireland ( NI ) continues to follow EU rules , in accordance with the NI Protocol to the Withdrawal Agreement ( Figure 2 ). Thus , if you place products on the market in NI only or in NI and the Republic of Ireland , the applicable legislation is the EU Cosmetic Products Regulation and EU REACH . To sell them in both GB and NI requires double compliance with the EU Cosmetic Products Regulation ( CPR ), the UK Cosmetics Regulation and both EU and UK REACH . For GB only , the UK Cosmetics Regulation and UK REACH apply . It is already clear that the NI Protocol is not without its difficulties and the UK government has threatened to act unilaterally to circumvent these . The EU has vowed to retaliate in response . The worst-case scenario would be that the EU-UK free trade agreement that was negotiated in late 2020 could be dissolved .
Adapting to the new rules
There were some transition periods associated with the UK ’ s withdrawal from the EU . This stated among other things that products that were already on the market before the end of 2020 would be allowed to remain on the market . The UK ’ s RP legislation came into effect on 1 January 2021 . Companies
52 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981