EU Drafts Cosmetic Ingredient Updates Following New CMR Classifications and SCCS Safety Opinions

To reflect the latest CMR classifications and recent SCCS safety opinions, the EU has proposed amendments to three cosmetic ingredient lists under the Cosmetics Regulation: 1) List of prohibited ingredients: 1 revision and 16 additions 2) List of restricted ingredients: 1 revision and 2 additions 3) List of permitted preservatives: 1 revision, 1 addition, and 2 deletions

On July 8, 2026, the EU notified the WTO of a draft regulation to amend the Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 (the Cosmetics Regulation). The draft has been prepared in light of the new classification of substances as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic for reproduction (CMR) introduced by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1222, as well as recent safety opinions released by the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS). It is open for comments until September 6, 2026, and is expected to be adopted in the fourth quarter of 2026.¹

The key amendments proposed in the draft are summarized below (text in red indicates changes from the previous lists):

List of Prohibited Ingredients: 1 Revised and 16 Added

Based on recent SCCS safety assessments, the draft proposes expanding the prohibited ingredients list by removing the existing ban derogations for mercury-containing preservatives, and by adding benzophenone-1, benzophenone-2, basic brown 16, basic blue 99, as well as prostaglandins and their analogues.

In addition, the draft proposes adding 11 new prohibited entries for substances classified as CMR under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1222 that are not currently regulated under the Cosmetics Regulation.