Regulation
Beauty industry insiders from trade associations and attorneys specializing in marketing law and/or cosmetics manufacturing look forward to a more business-friendly FTC in the US in 2025, while they expect industry to face an increasing number of challenges at the state level. Meanwhile, the EU beauty market is hopeful it will see reduced regulations this year.
Linda Katz, director of the Office of Cosmetics and Colors at the US Food and Drug Administration, is credited with leading efforts toward modernization of cosmetics regulations as she retires after 22 years at the helm.
FDA publishes the first proposed rule under the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act – a testing method for detecting asbestos in talc-containing cosmetics.
Many small US and independent beauty brands are still unfamiliar with the Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act, as are owners of beauty brands based outside the US; the lack of education about the regulation is making many stakeholders at risk for non-compliance.
The Biden Administration’s final unified agenda sets target dates for three notices of proposed rulemakings under MoCRA, setting a proposal for cosmetic GMPs for October 2025.
California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control issues a proposed rulemaking for methyl methacrylate alternatives in nail products, years after identifying the ingredient for prioritization.
Linda Katz presided over a two-decade-long effort to boost FDA’s authority over cosmetic product safety during her time as director of the Office of Cosmetics and Colors. She will retire in January.
The incoming Trump Administration’s “Department Of Government Efficiency” has big plans for sweeping cuts to the federal bureaucracy and regulation. The US FDA likely will feel some effects, but could avoid the most damaging mandates.
ECHA Urges Industry: ‘Pay Attention To REACH’ After Finding 6% Of Cosmetics Contain Banned Chemicals
The European Chemicals Agency’s Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement is encouraging cosmetics companies to brush up on the provisions of REACH and a European regulation on persistent organic pollutants after it found 6.4% of nearly 4,500 cosmetic products contain banned hazardous chemicals.
California authorities say predominance of retailers licensed to sell hemp are compliant with ban published effective on 3 October through emergency regulation. But hemp industry’s contesting the regulation in state court, arguing state authorities inappropriately used emergency action to change state law on hemp products legislature passed in 2021.
Slow adoption of alternatives to animal testing in the current decentralized regulatory framework.
Now that reporting of cosmetic ingredient use to FDA is no longer voluntary, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review is wading through a tide of data generated by MoCRA registration and listing deadlines.
The Washington State Department of Ecology will try to work with companies that violate the Toxic Free Cosmetics Act, rather than reflexively imposing the $5,000-per-violation fine for first-time offenders, says the law’s implementation planner. She noted financial assistance is available for small businesses, as well as incentives for companies adopting measures “beyond compliance.”
Toxic-Free Cosmetics Act planner Shari Franjevic acknowledges the Washington State Department of Ecology is authorized to use enforcement discretion regarding the new law’s 1ppm limit on trace lead in cosmetic products, effective 1 January 2025, or raise the ceiling via rulemaking. But it does not seem inclined to do either based on data known to the department at present.
Cosmetics Europe’s John Chave highlights the important role that industry must have in educating the public about chemicals used in cosmetic products. The association’s COSMILE Europe database launched last year is one such measure to combat misinformation while industry braces for potential impacts resulting from new hazard categories under the Classification, Labeling and Packaging (CLP) regulation.
Cosmetics Europe hopes a more “competitive” spirit will define the 2024-2029 regime. Director-general John Chave discusses the association’s outlook on planned revisions to REACH and the Cosmetic Products Regulation in the new EU institutional mandate.
Streamlined process for reporting problems is key piece of “unified Human Foods Program” which officially launched on 1 October, as Commissioner Robert Califf says, “a new model for field operations and other modernization efforts.”
Nonbinding forecast, fourth for the program, includes risks associated with codeine-containing cough medicine as a topic FDA will include in ongoing evaluation of GRASE for pediatric cough cold drug products marketed under monograph for cold, cough, allergy, bronchodilator and anti-asthmatic OTC drugs.
The RAC opinion begins the process of prohibiting use of talc in cosmetic products marketed in the EU. A consultation period will follow the Commission’s preparation of a delegated act.
Single-use packaging producers should heed the 1 October deadline in Colorado’s EPR law for paper and packaging to register with Circular Action Alliance lest they face enforcement action, said an advisor for that organization, which is leading the program’s administration, at IBA’s Cosmetics Convergence Fall 2024 Virtual Symposium.