EU Annex VI UV Filters Explained: How to Read the Positive List

Annex VI to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 is the positive list of UV filters allowed in cosmetic products sold in the EU. If a substance is used as a UV filter and it is not on this list, or it is on the list but the product does not meet the listed conditions, the product cannot legally be placed on the EU market for that use. This article is a reading guide to the list itself: what counts as a UV filter in law, how an Annex VI entry is structured, and four worked examples checked against the live entries in cosingchecker.com's Annex VI data, which currently holds 33 entries.

The legal basis: Article 14(1)(e)

Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 sets restrictions on cosmetic substances in Article 14. Article 14(1)(e) provides that a cosmetic product must not contain UV filters other than those listed in Annex VI, and must not contain Annex VI UV filters used outside the conditions laid down there. Annex VI is therefore a closed, positive list: inclusion is permission subject to conditions, and everything else is excluded for that use, by construction of the Article itself rather than by any separate prohibition list.

What counts as a "UV filter" in law

Article 2(1)(n) of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 defines "UV-filters" as substances which are exclusively or mainly intended to protect the skin against certain UV radiation by absorbing, reflecting or scattering UV radiation. That definition turns on intended use, not on chemistry alone: the same molecule can appear in a formulation for a different, non-UV-filter purpose, and in that case it is not regulated as a UV filter under Annex VI for that use.

The clearest illustration on the list itself is Benzophenone-3 (entry 4, CAS 131-57-7). Its Annex VI entry carries a labelling condition, "Contains Benzophenone-3", which a footnote says is not required if the concentration is 0.5% or less and the substance is used only for product protection purposes, meaning to protect the formulation itself from UV degradation rather than to protect the wearer's skin. The recitals of the amending Regulation (EU) 2022/1176 make the same distinction explicitly: recital 4 states that the use of Benzophenone-3 up to 0.5% in cosmetic products to protect the cosmetic formulation is safe, treating that use separately from its use as a UV filter proper. In other words, a small addition of a UV-filter substance purely to stabilise the product is treated differently in the text from the same substance used to filter UV on skin, and Annex VI's concentration caps apply to the UV-filter use.

How to read an Annex VI entry

Each Annex VI row follows the same layout as the other CosIng annexes, with fields specific to UV filters. The core fields, as returned by the site's API for any entry, are:

• Entry number and substance name (INCI or chemical name), the row's identifier in the Annex
• Chemical/IUPAC name and CAS/EC numbers, for matching the entry to a specific substance
• Product type, where the permitted concentration differs by product category (for example face products versus spray products)
• Maximum concentration in the ready-for-use preparation, the ceiling that applies once the product is in its final, as-sold form, not in any intermediate mixture
• Other conditions/restrictions, covering things such as particle-size or purity requirements for nanomaterials, or a ban on spray or inhalable formats
• Warnings, meaning any wording the label must carry
• The amending regulation and its date, which is the primary source for that version of the entry

A nano entry adds one more layer: where an entry is also allowed as a nanomaterial, the conditions column specifies particle-size, purity and coating parameters that the nanomaterial form must meet. A substance can be listed as both a conventional and a nano form under one shared entry number, with the nano-specific conditions stated separately within that entry.

Worked example: a straightforward entry

Bis-Ethylhexyloxyphenol Methoxyphenyl Triazine (entry 25, CAS 187393-00-6, also known by its non-INCI name Bemotrizinol) is listed with a single maximum concentration of 10% in the ready-for-use preparation, no product-type split, no warning and no extra conditions in the site's current record. This is the simplest entry shape: one substance, one cap, no further qualification.

Worked example: a nano entry

Tris-Biphenyl Triazine (entry 29, CAS 31274-51-8) was added to Annex VI by Regulation (EU) No 866/2014, which amended Annexes III, V and VI to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009. The entry covers the substance including as a nanomaterial, with a shared 10% maximum concentration, and it carries two extra conditions: it must not be used in sprays, and where used as a nanomaterial it must have a median primary particle size greater than 80 nm, purity of at least 98%, and be uncoated. Those particle-size and purity limits exist because the SCCS safety opinion behind the entry assessed dermal absorption specifically for material in that size and purity range, not for nanomaterial in general; a product using differently specified nanoparticles of the same substance falls outside the entry's conditions even though the CAS number matches.

Worked example: a split-use concentration

Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate (entry 28, CAS 302776-68-7, DHHB) was amended into its current form by Regulation (EU) No 344/2013, which also touched Annexes II, III and V. Its Annex VI cap is 10% in the ready-for-use preparation, with no product-type split and no warning in the current record. The entry is a useful contrast with Benzophenone-3: DHHB's 10% figure is a flat ceiling, while Benzophenone-3's concentration field is split by product type (face and lip products at 6%, body products at 2.2%, other products at 0.5%) plus a separate allowance for the product-protection use described above. Reading the product-type column correctly, rather than quoting a single percentage out of context, is what separates a compliant reading of the entry from a wrong one.

Worked example: an inhalation restriction

Phenylene Bis-Diphenyltriazine (entry 31, CAS 55514-22-2) was added by Regulation (EU) 2019/680. Its maximum concentration is 5%, and its "other restrictions" field states that it must not be used in applications that may lead to exposure of the end user's lungs by inhalation, a format-level restriction rather than a concentration limit. That condition exists because the SCCS opinion behind the entry addressed dermal exposure but flagged inhalation risk from spray or powder formats as unassessed, so the entry permits the substance in leave-on and rinse-off forms while excluding formats that could be inhaled.

Recent amendments: Benzophenone-3, Octocrylene, and Homosalate

Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/1176 of 7 July 2022 amended Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 as regards the use of Benzophenone-3 and Octocrylene, entries 4 and 10 of Annex VI, following an SCCS safety assessment that had been requested because of concerns about possible endocrine-disrupting properties. It tightened the concentration limits and added the product-type split and the product-protection footnote described above for Benzophenone-3, and added a footnote for Octocrylene requiring that Benzophenone-3 present as an impurity or degradation product be kept at trace level. Products that complied with the rules in force on 27 July 2022 could still be placed on the market until 28 January 2023 and made available until 28 July 2023, after which only the new limits apply.

Homosalate (entry 3, CAS 118-56-9) was amended separately, by Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2195 of 10 November 2022, not by the Benzophenone-3/Octocrylene regulation. The current entry restricts Homosalate to face products, excluding propellant spray products, at a maximum of 7.34%, with the site's record noting that products not complying with the new conditions could not be placed on the market from 1 January 2025 and could not be made available on the market from 1 July 2025. Treating 2022/1176 and 2022/2195 as one amendment is a common but incorrect shorthand: they are two separate regulations, adopted four months apart, covering different entries.

Using the data

The full, current Annex VI list, with every field described above, is browsable at cosingchecker.com/annex/VI/, and the same data is available as JSON from the API at /api/v1/entries/?annex=VI&per_page=100. For checking whether a planned formulation's percentage of a given UV filter sits within a listed cap, cosingchecker.com/concentration-calculator/ works from the same maximum-concentration figures. A record on either page is evidence of what the Annex currently says for that entry; it is not a safety or compliance verdict, and a full assessment of a finished product needs the exact wording of the entry, the product type, and the current Official Journal text, not a percentage read in isolation. Readers specifically interested in zinc oxide's nano UV-filter entry, which has its own particle-size conditions, can find that covered separately at cosingchecker.com/blogs/zinc-oxide-nano-uv-filter-eu-rules/.

Sources

• Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, consolidated text, Article 2(1)(n) and Article 14(1)(e) — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32009R1223
• Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/1176 of 7 July 2022 amending Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 as regards the use of certain UV filters in cosmetic products — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022R1176
• Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/2195 of 10 November 2022 amending Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 as regards the use of Butylated Hydroxytoluene, Acid Yellow 3, Homosalate and HAA299 in cosmetic products and correcting that Regulation as regards the use of Resorcinol — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2195/oj/eng
• Commission Regulation (EU) No 866/2014 of 8 August 2014 amending Annexes III, V and VI to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32014R0866
• Commission Regulation (EU) No 344/2013 of 4 April 2013 amending Annexes II, III, V and VI to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 — https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2013/344/data.html
• Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/680 of 30 April 2019 amending Annex VI to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 as regards Phenylene Bis-Diphenyltriazine — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/680/oj/eng
• CosIngChecker Annex VI entries, live data — https://cosingchecker.com/api/v1/entries/?annex=VI&per_page=100
• CosIngChecker Annex VI browse page — https://cosingchecker.com/annex/VI/
• CosIngChecker site statistics, live data — https://cosingchecker.com/api/v1/stats/