Saudi Arabia cosmetic ingredient regulations

The Saudi lists will read as familiar to anyone who works with the EU annexes, because the Gulf technical regulation they derive from was modelled on Regulation 1223/2009. Substance identification, the prohibited and restricted split, and much of the wording follow the same pattern.

That familiarity is exactly why the differences deserve attention. The SFDA publishes its lists with their own dates and amends them on its own schedule, so alignment with the EU is a starting position rather than a standing guarantee. A substance recently added to Annex II is not thereby prohibited in Saudi Arabia, and a Saudi entry may carry a limit the EU does not.

Product registration is a separate requirement. Cosmetic products need notification to the SFDA before being placed on the market, and that process asks questions this list does not answer.

Both the Arabic and English publications are available. Where they differ, the Arabic is the one a Saudi regulator reads.