The Commission DG SANCO notified, on March 12, 2020, two drafts of new Regulations adapting the annexes of Regulation 1223/2009 to technical progress; with the preliminary text "Draft Commission Regulation amending Annexes II and III to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on cosmetic products" the use of three hair dyes is banned due to their potential genotoxicity and mutagenicity found by the EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS).

These dyes are

  • 1,2,4-Trihydroxybenzene (CAS 533-73-3)
  • 4-Amino-3-hydroxytoluene (CAS 2835-98-5)
  • 2-[(4-Amino-2-nitrophenyl)-amino]-benzoic acid (CAS 117907-43-4)

Oltre ai coloranti sopra elencati che verranno inseriti in allegato II, vi saranno alcune modifiche in allegato III.
Furthermore, in Annex III, the maximum use concentrations of six hair dyes will be included, namely

Inoltre, in Allegato III, verranno inserite le concentrazioni massime d’uso di sei coloranti per capelli, ovvero

  • Dimethylpiperazinium Aminopyrazolopyridine HCl (CAS 1256553-33-9), as an oxidation dye
  • Methylimidazoliumpropyl p-phenylenediamine HCl (CAS 220158-86-1), as oxidation colorant
  • HC Orange No. 6 (CAS 1449653-83-1), as a non-oxidizing colorant
  • Acid Orange 7 (CAS 633-96-5), as a non-oxidizing colorant
  • Tetrabromophenol Blue (CAS 4430-25-5), as oxidation dye and not
  • Indigofera Tinctoria leaf, Indigofera Tinctoria leaf powder, Indigofera Tinctoria leaf extract, Indigofera Tinctoria extract (CAS 84775-63-3), as a non-oxidizing dye

As provided for by WTO (World Trade Organization) rules, countries will now have 60 days (i.e. by May 11, 2020) to send any comments on the two Regulations, which should then be published in the Official Journal of the European Union in the last quarter of 2020.

And now a brief update on RESORCINOL

The European Commission on May 16, 2019 had opened a public consultation to collect data on the safety of certain cosmetic ingredients suspected of being endocrine disruptors; among the ingredients, divided into two groups, A and B, according to priority, was RESORCINOL (CAS 108-46-3) for which it was requested to submit relevant scientific information by October 15, 2019.

Upon receipt of the data, the European Commission, on February 4, 2020, issued evaluation terms of reference for SCCS (Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety) to take appropriate prohibition or restriction measures. SCCS will have 9 months to evaluate the required aspects

However, ANSES (Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail ) has recently evaluated the data related to resorcinol and concluded that this substance has a significant impact on thyroid function that may lead to adverse effects, especially in pregnancy and therefore considers that there are conditions to propose resorcinol as a proven endocrine disruptor and proposes its identification as a Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC) under REACH.

Therefore, the SCCS final opinion is awaited and decisions on the classification of this molecule will follow.