Understanding your cosmetics
How are cosmetics kept safe in Europe?
Strict laws make sure that cosmetics and personal care products sold in the European Union are safe for people to use. Companies, national and European regulatory authorities share the responsibility of keeping cosmetics products safe.
Before any product goes on sale, companies must carry out rigorous safety assessments. Professionally qualified safety assessors review the evidence from extensive scientific research on the product and its ingredients. Research includes how the product is made, who uses it and how often.
Once the product is on the national market, companies are legally required to keep safety assessments available for inspection by the country’s authorities. Assessments must be updated with all new relevant safety data. Companies also continuously monitor their products’ safety by recording and assessing any adverse reactions reported by consumers.
National authorities throughout the EU carry out safety and legal controls on the cosmetics and personal care products on sale in their country.
When a safety concern is raised about a cosmetic ingredient, European regulatory authorities can mandate the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), a group of independent experts to review and advise on the safe use of the ingredient. The group’s advice helps European authorities to take informed decisions about changes regarding the safe use of the ingredient.
Database
Cosmetics matter to people and play an important role in our everyday life. On average European consumers use over seven different cosmetics daily. You too? It’s only natural that you want to know more about the ingredients in those products.
In the digital world we live in, there’s a deluge of information on cosmetics. However, it can be difficult to know which sources are reliable. COSMILE Europe is a European cosmetic ingredient database that offers reliable, verified and scientifically supported information on almost 30,000 ingredients used in cosmetics.
This database will help you understand why certain ingredients are in your cosmetic products; which properties they have and much more. The database is currently available in fourteen languages with more to come.
Why our information is reliable
All information in the COSMILE Europe database comes from verified sources and is based on independent expert knowledge.
The INCI list of ingredients which is also used by the European Commission within their CosIng database, an official source of information on cosmetic substances and ingredients, is provided by the Personal Care Product Council. The information on the function of ingredients is sourced from the CosIng database. More detailed information on ingredient properties, whether they are man-made and/or of natural origin, in which types of products the ingredients can be found, etc… comes from independent experts and scientific assessments published by European and national expert bodies.