Impact of Brexit on cosmetic regulations

Brexit: Impact on cosmetic regulations

Updated: 13th April 2021

The following information is provided to help you understand the impact of Brexit on UK cosmetic regulations. Since 1st January 2021, when the transition period ended, new processes are in place for cosmetics. Read on to learn more.

Key Changes

Responsible Person: Businesses marketing in the UK are required to have a Responsible Person (RP) based in the UK. Businesses marketing in UK and EU require both UK RP and EU RP. Businesses selling in EU only do not require UK RP.

Notification: Submission of a notification through a new UK notification portal (a ‘UK CPNP’) is required for any business trading in the UK. Businesses selling in EU and UK will require notification via the new UK portal as well as EU CPNP portal. Trading only in EU will require EU CPNP notification only. EU CPNP notifications were downloaded by the UK authority meaning businesses that had already notified via the EU portal do not have to re-submit via the UK portal.

Packaging: Labels for the UK market require a UK address. Multi-market packs require UK and an address in an EU member state.

How to prepare

The following applies if you want to sell into the EU and your RP is based in the UK.

New EU entity: Establish an entity in an EU member state for Responsible Person and labelling purposes.

Responsible Person: Assign a new Responsible Person located in an EU member state e.g. Ireland.

Notification: From now on, submit notifications for all UK products via the UK notification portal.

Packaging: Ensure both a UK and EU address appears on packaging.

Cosmetic Product Safety Assessments

Cosmetic safety assessments – or CPSRs – prepared by UK based assessors should not be deemed invalid by the UK leaving the EU. This is because, typically, CPSRs are accepted from US or China-based assessors. We cannot rule out that some EU-based businesses will request the assessor is EU-based.

Product Information Files

On the UK leaving the EU, Product Information Files – or PIF – shall be required to be held in both the EU and UK territories. And that the PIF may need to be in the local language of the market.

FAQ

We sell to the UK market only. What do I need to do?

If you sell to UK only you will need to do the following:

1. Ensure your RP is located in the UK. If you do not have a UK RP, you will need to get one.
2. Submit notification via UK notification portal.
3. Ensure a UK address is included on the label.

We want to sell to UK and EU markets. How do I proceed?

If you sell to the UK and the EU markets you will need to do the following:

1. Assign two RPs: one in the UK and one in an EU member state.
2. Submit notifications to 1) UK notification portal and 2) EU CPNP.
3. Ensure a UK and EU address is included on the label.

We want to sell to the EU only (not UK)

If you sell to EU but not the UK you will need to do the following:

1. Ensure your RP is located in an EU member State (not the UK)
2. Submit notification via EU CPNP portal only. Submission to UK portal is not required.
3. Ensure an EU member state address is included on the label. A UK address is not required.

Watch our step-by-step video guide on Cosmetic Regulation