Category: Legislation & Regulation

  • FDA Stops Voluntary Cosmetic Registration Program

    The FDA announced today that effective immediately they are no longer accepting submissions into the Voluntary Cosmetic Registration Program (VCRP).

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  • Made in “My State” Claims

    The FTC sets standards for the truthfulness of “Made in the USA” claims. Now it looks like a claim that a product is made in a specific state must meet the Made in the USA standard.

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  • FTC is Updating the Green Guides

    The FTC has started the every-10-year review of the Green Guides, which are the regulations covering claims that a product or service has “environmental benefits.”

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  • Organic Regulations Updated

    The USDA announced final updates to the regulations of the National Organic Program. Some of these changes may affect handcrafters using organic ingredients.

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  • New Regulations – Endorsements and Testimonials

    The FTC is initiating the rulemaking process to put some enforceable regulations in place for endorsements, testimonials and reviews.

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  • Endorsements, Reviews & Testimonials

    Reviews and testimonials are highly effective marketing tools. So effective that the FTC has issued rules covering them.

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  • Cosmetics That Look Like Food

    Soap that looks and smells like pie. Bath bombs that look and smell like candy. Fun to do and sell – but is there a legal downside? Turns out, at least the the EU, there is.

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  • California Legislation – Microplastics

    In February 2022, California Assemblymember Bill Quirk introduced Assembly Bill (A.B.) 2787 “Microplastics in Products.” It covers both rinse-off and leave-on cosmetic products.

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  • us capitol

    Cosmetic Regulation Update

    On May 17, the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committee introduced a draft bill which includes changes to the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act regarding cosmetics.

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  • Plastic Microbeads

    Plastic microbeads are prohibited for use in rinse-off cosmetics. If a rinse-off cosmetic contains plastic microbeads, it is adulterated (and therefore illegal).1 21 USC 331(ddd) Definition: A plastic microbead is any solid plastic particle that is less than 5 millimeters in size and is intended to be used to exfoliate or cleanse the human body […]

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  • Ethyl Alcohol (Ethanol)

    In cosmetic ingredient naming, “alcohol” is the INCI name for ethyl alcohol (ethanol). Ethyl alcohol – also called grain alcohol – is the consumable kind of alcohol. It’s naturally produced by the fermentation of sugars, from which we get all sorts of alcoholic beverages; beers, wines and hard liquors. It can also be produced synthetically […]

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  • FDA Warning Letters 2021

    I’ve been receiving a lot notices of FDA warning letters, so I reviewed the last 106 warning letters (60 days) to see what sort of warnings they have been sending out lately. Here’s the breakdown of the types of products cited (in descending order). Family Smoking Prevention & Tobacco Control – 46 Unapproved new drug […]

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