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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 records
Annex IIBinding EU regulation

Dihexyl phthalate

Source reference: Annex II, entry 1559 · 30/07/2020

Annex IIBinding EU regulation

Gallium arsenide

Source reference: Annex II, entry 1564 · 30/07/2020

Annex IIBinding EU regulation

Vinyl acetate

Source reference: Annex II, entry 1565 · 30/07/2020

Annex IIBinding EU regulation

4-Vinylcyclohexene

Source reference: Annex II, entry 1569 · 30/07/2020

Annex IIBinding EU regulation

Benactyzine (INN)

Source reference: Annex II, entry 157 · 20/10/2010

Annex IIBinding EU regulation

Styrene

Source reference: Annex II, entry 1575 · 30/07/2020

Annex IIBinding EU regulation

Formaldehyde

Source reference: Annex II, entry 1577 · 30/07/2020

Annex IIBinding EU regulation

Paraformaldehyde

Source reference: Annex II, entry 1578 · 30/07/2020

Annex IIBinding EU regulation

Imidazole

Source reference: Annex II, entry 1589 · 30/07/2020

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

  1. Confirm the exact INCI/CAS/EC identity.
  2. Review every matching Annex II–VI row and its conditions.
  3. Check SCCS opinions, CMR/nanomaterial rules and later amendments.
  4. 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.

62 substances where European Union is stricter than some markets

A formula cleared elsewhere can fail here.

Boric AcidDiethylene GlycolPhenolCatalaseDichloromethaneDihydrocoumarinOxyquinolineThiramZirconium PowderButaneChloropheneFormaldehydeHydroquinoneIsobutaneQUATERNIUM-15Sodium PerborateButylphenyl MethylpropionalCholecalciferolMethylene GlycolSilver NitrateZinc PyrithioneEthylhexyl EthylhexanoateTagetes Erecta Flower ExtractTrimethylbenzoyl Diphenylphosphine Oxide4-METHYLBENZYLIDENE CamphorAmmonium Silver Zinc Aluminum SilicateHydroxyanthraquinoneaminopropyl Methyl Morp…BenzophenoneOxyquinoline SulfateSodium BorateSodium HydroxymethylglycinateCI 77400ErgocalciferolSilverGoldHexachloropheneCitrus Reticulata Leaf OilD-DIHYDROGERANIOLPigment Red 4Solvent Red 23

and 22 more — see the full comparison

143 substances where European Union is more permissive than some markets

Permitted here under conditions and prohibited, or more tightly held, elsewhere — so a formula built for this market may not travel.

Methyl Alcohol1-NAPHTHOLBenzoyl PeroxideChloramine THydrogen PeroxideP-HYDROXYANISOLE1,5-NAPHTHALENEDIOL2,7-NAPHTHALENEDIOL2-AMINO-6-CHLORO-4-NITROPHENOL2-METHYLRESORCINOL3-NITRO-P-HYDROXYETHYLAMINOPHENOL4-AMINO-2-HYDROXYTOLUENE4-AMINO-3-NITROPHENOL4-AMINO-M-CRESOLButoxyethanolDichloropheneM-AMINOPHENOLMethyl EugenolNitromethaneP-PHENYLENEDIAMINEPhenyl Methyl PyrazoloneSilver NitrateTalcTOLUENE-2,5-DIAMINE1,3-BIS-(2,4-DIAMINOPHENOXY)PROPANE1-HYDROXYETHYL 4,5-DIAMINO Pyrazole Sulfate2,6-DIAMINOPYRIDINE2,6-DIHYDROXY-3,4-DIMETHYLPYRIDINE2,6-DIHYDROXYETHYLAMINOTOLUENE2-AMINO-3-HYDROXYPYRIDINE2-AMINO-4-HYDROXYETHYLAMINOANISOLE2-CHLORO-6-ETHYLAMINO-4-NITROPHENOL2-HYDROXYETHYL Picramic Acid2-HYDROXYETHYLAMINO-5-NITROANISOLE2-METHYL-5-HYDROXYETHYLAMINOPHENOL3-AMINO-2,4-DICHLOROPHENOL3-METHYLAMINO-4-NITROPHENOXYETHANOL4-HYDROXYPROPYLAMINO-3-NITROPHENOL4-NITRO-O-PHENYLENEDIAMINE4-NITROPHENYL Aminoethylurea

and 103 more — see the full comparison

Official sources and legal role

EC CosIng live annex export

EU common ingredient names glossary 2025

EU fragrance allergen labelling amendment 2023/1545

EUON catalogue of cosmetic nanomaterials

SCCS opinions

EC cosmetic endocrine disruptors topic

EUR-Lex cosmetics Regulation 1223/2009 consolidated text

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

  1. Search the ingredient by INCI name, CAS number or EC number and record the exact identity.
  2. Open each official source above and check the current version, product scope, concentration limits and required warnings.
  3. Confirm effective dates and whether an English text is official, reviewed or only contextual.
  4. Treat a missing local match as unknown, never as permission or a safety conclusion.
Screen an INCI listSearch ingredientsReview source methodology