Which cosmetic ingredients the EU is banning or restricting, what exactly changes and from when products containing them can no longer be sold.
The annexes to the EU Cosmetics Regulation are amended several times a year. An ingredient can be banned outright (Annex II), get a maximum concentration or a mandatory warning (Annex III), or lose its approval as a preservative or UV filter (Annexes V and VI).
Changes rarely apply overnight. Usually there is one date after which non-compliant products may no longer be placed on the market and a later one after which shops may no longer sell remaining stock. Until then, older formulas can still be on the shelf.
We follow the Official Journal (EUR-Lex), the CosIng database, opinions of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) and draft measures notified to the WTO. For each change we list the products in our database that contain the affected ingredients.
This is a consumer-oriented summary, not legal advice. Only the text published in the Official Journal of the EU is legally binding.
Retinol, retinyl acetate and retinyl palmitate are capped at 0.05% retinol equivalent in body lotions and 0.3% in other products, with a mandatory vitamin A warning.
The list of fragrance allergens that must be named individually on the label grows from 24 to more than 80 entries; new products must already comply, older stock can be sold until 31 July 2028.
Substances newly classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1222 are added to Annex II, including nitrous oxide, ozone and tetrahydrofurfuryl methacrylate.
Two direct (non-oxidative) hair dyes common in semi-permanent and colour-depositing products are added to Annex II over genotoxicity concerns.
Two UV-absorbing benzophenones used mainly as light stabilisers are added to the list of prohibited substances because of endocrine and safety concerns.
The antioxidant BHA, currently unregulated, gets a 0.07% limit in leave-on and rinse-off products and is excluded from oral care and inhalable products.
Butylparaben gets its own preservative entry (12b) with a ban in sprayable products and much lower limits in leave-on products for children under 10.
Cannabidiol (CBD) gets its first EU cosmetic limit: 0.19% in leave-on, rinse-off and oral care products, with THC impurities kept below 2.5 ppm.
Entry 372 for Hydroxyapatite (nano) is replaced: up to 29.5% in toothpaste and 10% in mouthwash, but only for rod-shaped, uncoated particles meeting new size criteria.
Thiomersal and phenylmercuric salts are deleted from the list of allowed preservatives, and the mercury ban in Annex II loses its exceptions.
The Omnibus IX draft adds “prostaglandins and their analogues” as a group to Annex II, ending their use in eyelash and eyebrow growth serums.
The SCCS considers tea tree oil safe only up to set levels per product type and not in sprays, which signals a future Annex III restriction.
Since 1 May 2026, substances classified as CMR by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/2564 are banned, while silver powder, hexyl salicylate and o-phenylphenol stay allowed under strict conditions.
Since 1 September 2025 the photoinitiator TPO, used in UV-curing gel nail systems, and other newly classified CMR substances are prohibited in all cosmetics, with no sell-off period.
4-Methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC) was removed from the list of allowed UV filters and banned; since 1 May 2026 it can no longer be sold in the EU.
Popular brightening actives and soy isoflavones now have maximum concentrations; non-compliant products have been off EU shelves since 1 November 2025.
Twelve nanomaterials were added to Annex II and nano-hydroxyapatite was restricted; non-compliant products could no longer be sold from 1 November 2025.
Products with formaldehyde-releasing preservatives must carry the warning “releases formaldehyde” when released formaldehyde exceeds 0.001%; the last sell-off period ended on 31 July 2026.
