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 recordsGases (petroleum), light straight-run naphtha stabilizer off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 549 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), reformer effluent high-pressure flash drum off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 550 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), reformer effluent low-pressure flash drum off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 551 · 15/10/2010
Residues (petroleum), alkylation splitter, C4-rich, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 552 · 15/10/2010
Hydrocarbons, C1-4, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 553 · 15/10/2010
Hydrocarbons, C1-4, sweetened, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 554 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), oil refinery gas distn., if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 555 · 15/10/2010
Hydrocarbons, C1-3, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 556 · 15/10/2010
Hydrocarbons, C1-4, debutanizer fraction, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 557 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), benzene unit hydrotreater depentanizer overheads, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 558 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), C1-5, wet, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 559 · 15/10/2010
Bretylium tosilate (INN)
Source reference: Annex II, entry 56 · 17/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), secondary absorber off, fluidized catalytic cracker overheads, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 560 · 15/10/2010
Hydrocarbons, C2-4, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 561 · 15/10/2010
Hydrocarbons, C3, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 562 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), alkylation feed, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 563 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), depropanizer bottoms fractionation off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 564 · 15/10/2010
Petroleum products, refinery gases, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 565 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), hydrocracking low-pressure separator, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 566 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), refinery blend, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 567 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), catalytic cracking, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 568 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), C2-4, sweetened, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 569 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), refinery, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 570 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), platformer products separator off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 571 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), hydrotreated sour kerosine depentanizer stabilizer off, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 572 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), hydrotreated sour kerosine flash drum, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 573 · 24/11/2016
Gases (petroleum), crude oil fractionation off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 574 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), dehexanizer off, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 575 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), distillate unifiner desulfurization tripper off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 576 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), fluidized catalytic cracker fractionation off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 577 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), fluidized catalytic cracker scrubbing secondary absorber off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 578 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), heavy distillate hydrotreater desulfurization stripper off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 579 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), light straight run gasoline fractionation stabilizer off, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 580 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), naphtha unifiner desulfurization stripper off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 581 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), platformer stabilizer off, light ends fractionation, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 582 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), preflash tower off, crude distn., if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 583 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), straight-run naphtha catalytic reforming off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 584 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), straight-run stabilizer off, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 585 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), tar stripper off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 586 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), unifiner stripper off, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 587 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), fluidized catalytic cracker splitter overheads, if they contain > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 588 · 15/10/2010
Gases (petroleum), catalytic cracked naphtha debutanizer, if they contain > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 589 · 15/10/2010
Brompheniramine (INN) and its salts
Source reference: Annex II, entry 59 · 17/10/2010
Tail gas (petroleum), catalytic cracked distillate and naphtha stabilizer, if it contains > 0.1 % w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 590 · 15/10/2010
Tail gas (petroleum), catalytic hydrodesulfurized naphtha separator, if it contains > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 591 · 15/10/2010
Tail gas (petroleum), straight-run naphtha hydrodesulfurized, if it contains > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 592 · 15/10/2010
Tail gas (petroleum), thermal-cracked distillate, gas oil and naphtha absorber, if it contains > 0.1% w/w Butadiene
Source reference: Annex II, entry 593 · 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.
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.