European Union cosmetic ingredient regulations
EU Cosmetics Regulation 1223/2009 annexes and the CosIng discovery database.
- Regulator
- European Commission
- Source language
- English and EU languages
- Coverage version
- Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 consolidated to 1 May 2026
What this list is
The EU list is not one list. Regulation 1223/2009 splits substances across five annexes that answer different questions, and reading the wrong one is the most common way to get an EU answer wrong.
- Annex II prohibits 1,739 substances outright.
- Annex III permits 373 substances only within stated limits, product types and warnings.
- Annexes IV, V and VI are positive lists: 154 colourants, 54 preservatives, 33 UV filters.
- For those three categories, absence from the annex means not permitted — the opposite of Annex II's logic.
- CosIng is a discovery database, not the law; the annexes as published are.
Most markets on this site publish one list. The EU publishes five, and they do not work the same way. Annex II names substances that may not be used at all. Annex III names substances that may be used, but only within a concentration limit, for stated product types, and often with a warning that must appear on the label. Annexes IV, V and VI are positive lists for colourants, preservatives and UV filters.
That last distinction reverses the logic and catches people out. For a substance in general, absence from Annex II is not permission — nothing has been decided about it. For a preservative, absence from Annex V is a decision: it may not be used as a preservative in a cosmetic product. The same silence means opposite things depending on which annex you are reading.
CosIng is worth naming separately, because it is what most searches land on. It is the Commission's database for finding ingredients and their annex references, and it is genuinely useful for that. It is not the legal text. When CosIng and the published annex disagree — usually because an amendment has come into force and the database has not caught up — the annex governs.
An Annex III entry is also more than a number. The limit, the product-type condition and the warning text travel together, and quoting the concentration without the condition it applies to produces an answer that is right about the figure and wrong about the product.
Checked against
Official ingredient records
2353 matching recordsReaction mass of: 4,7-bis(mercaptomethyl)-3,6,9-trithia-1,11-undecanedithiol; 4,8-bis(mercaptomethyl)-3,6,9-trithia-1,11-undecanedithiol; 5,7-bis(mercaptomethyl)-3,6,9-trithia-1,11-undecanedithiol
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1414 · 30/07/2020
Potassium titanium oxide (K2Ti6O13)
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1415 · 30/07/2020
Nickel dinitrate [1]; Nitric acid, nickel salt [2]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1420 · 30/07/2020
Slimes and sludges, copper electrolytic refining, decopperised, nickel sulfate
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1422 · 30/07/2020
Slimes and sludges, copper electrolyte refining, decopperised
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1423 · 30/07/2020
Nickel diperchlorate; perchloric acid, nickel(II) salt
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1424 · 30/07/2020
Nickel dipotassium bis(sulfate) [1]; Diammonium nickel bis(sulfate) [2]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1425 · 30/07/2020
Nickel bis(sulfamidate); nickel sulfamate
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1426 · 30/07/2020
Nickel diformate [1]; Formic acid, nickel salt [2]; Formic acid, copper nickel salt [3]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1428 · 30/07/2020
Nickel di(acetate) [1]; Nickel acetate [2]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1429 · 30/07/2020
1,1-Bis(dimethylaminomethyl)propyl benzoate (amydricaine, alypine) and its salts
Source reference: Annex II, entry 143 · 20/10/2010
Nickel bis(4-cyclohexylbutyrate)
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1431 · 30/07/2020
Nickel(II) stearate; nickel(II) octadecanoate
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1432 · 30/07/2020
Nickel(II) octanoate
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1434 · 30/07/2020
Nickel difluoride [1]; Nickel dibromide [2]; Nickel diiodide [3]; Nickel potassium fluoride [4]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1435 · 30/07/2020
Nickel hexafluorosilicate
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1436 · 30/07/2020
Nickel hydrogen phosphate [1]; Nickel bis(dihydrogen phosphate) [2]; Trinickel bis(orthophosphate) [3]; Dinickel diphosphate [4]; Nickel bis(phosphinate) [5]; Nickel phosphinate [6]; Phosphoric acid, calcium nickel salt [7]; Diphosphoric acid, nickel(II) salt [8]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1438 · 30/07/2020
Diammonium nickel hexacyanoferrate
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1439 · 30/07/2020
Methapyrilene (INN) and its salts
Source reference: Annex II, entry 144 · 20/10/2010
Nickel(II) silicate [1]; Dinickel orthosilicate [2]; Nickel silicate (3:4) [3]; Silicic acid, nickel salt [4]; Trihydrogen hydroxybis[orthosilicato(4-)]trinickelate(3-) [5]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1442 · 30/07/2020
Dinickel hexacyanoferrate
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1443 · 30/07/2020
Trinickel bis(arsenate); nickel(II) arsenate
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1444 · 30/07/2020
Nickel oxalate [1]; Oxalic acid, nickel salt [2]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1445 · 30/07/2020
Trinickel tetrasulfide
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1447 · 30/07/2020
Trinickel bis(arsenite)
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1448 · 30/07/2020
Cobalt nickel gray periclase; C.I. Pigment Black 25; C.I. 77332 [1]; Cobalt nickel dioxide [2]; Cobalt nickel oxide [3]; Nickel arsenide [2]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1449 · 30/07/2020
Metamfepramone (INN) and its salts
Source reference: Annex II, entry 145 · 15/10/2010
Nickel tin trioxide; nickel stannate
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1450 · 30/07/2020
Nickel triuranium decaoxide
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1451 · 30/07/2020
Nickel dithiocyanate
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1452 · 30/07/2020
Silicic acid, lead nickel salt
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1456 · 30/07/2020
Nickel diarsenide [1]; Nickel arsenide [2]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1457 · 30/07/2020
Nickel barium titanium primrose priderite; C.I. Pigment Yellow 157; C.I. 77900
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1458 · 30/07/2020
Nickel dichlorate [1]; Nickel dibromate [2]; Ethyl hydrogen sulfate, nickel(II) salt [3]
Source reference: Annex II, entry 1459 · 30/07/2020
Amitriptyline (INN) and its salts
Source reference: Annex II, entry 146 · 15/10/2010
Market coverage contract
Complete annex dataset- Included scope
- Annexes II–VI: prohibited and restricted substances, colourants, preservatives and UV filters.
- If no match is found
- No annex match only means that these five annexes did not return a match; CosIng identity data and other EU obligations still need review.
Complete verification checklist
- Confirm the exact INCI/CAS/EC identity.
- Review every matching Annex II–VI row and its conditions.
- Check SCCS opinions, CMR/nanomaterial rules and later amendments.
- Verify product classification, claims, labelling and responsible-person duties.
How European Union differs from other markets
Comparing this market's imported rules against every other market's for the same substance. A market with no imported rule for a substance is left out of that comparison rather than treated as permitting it.
A formula cleared elsewhere can fail here.
and 22 more — see the full comparison
Permitted here under conditions and prohibited, or more tightly held, elsewhere — so a formula built for this market may not travel.
and 103 more — see the full comparison
Official sources and legal role
PubChem PUG-View annotations
Attributed physical-property, hazard, environmental, use and literature annotations for uniquely matched PubChem compounds
Legal meaning: Scientific context aggregated by PubChem; individual values retain their named depositor or publication source
EMBL-EBI ChEBI 2.0
Curated definitions, chemical classes, roles, names, relationships and cross-references
Legal meaning: Curated scientific ontology; not a cosmetics permission or prohibition list
FDA Global Substance Registration System
UNII identifiers, preferred names, substance types, codes and public substance relationships
Legal meaning: Identity registry only; UNII availability does not imply FDA review or approval
Cosmetic Ingredient Review safety assessments
Expert Panel conclusions, assessed ingredient groups, use conditions, dates and report documents
Legal meaning: Independent expert review considered by FDA; not a government approval or binding market rule
EU Safety Gate cosmetic product alerts
Published cosmetic product alerts, notifying country, risk, product identifiers and corrective measures
Legal meaning: Official market-surveillance alerts; not proof that a named ingredient caused an incident
Available language: English and EU languages
What this market page can answer
Source and authority
Identify the official material and the regulator responsible for it: European Commission.
Language and scope
See whether usable English or bilingual material exists and what the mapped source actually covers. Current source language: English and EU languages.
Evidence status
Browse ingredient-level records imported from official sources. Each row states whether it passed deterministic source checks or human editorial review.
How to verify an ingredient for this market
- Search the ingredient by INCI name, CAS number or EC number and record the exact identity.
- Open each official source above and check the current version, product scope, concentration limits and required warnings.
- Confirm effective dates and whether an English text is official, reviewed or only contextual.
- Treat a missing local match as unknown, never as permission or a safety conclusion.