The European Commission has notified the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of a draft amendment to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products, adding twelve nanomaterials to the list of substances banned under the Regulation (Annex II).

The  nanomaterials concerned are styrene/acrylates copolymer, sodium styrene/acrylates copolymer, copper, colloidal copper, hydroxyapatite, gold, colloidal gold, gold thioethylamino hyaluronic acid, acetyl heptapeptide-9 colloidal gold, platinum, colloidal platinum, and acetyl tetrapeptide-17 colloidal platinum.

This measure is based on 2021 opinions by the EU Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), identifying a basis of concern for the relevant substances. The amendment of Annex II is therefore needed to uniformly implement across the internal market the prohibition to use nanomaterials for which a basis of concern has been identified.

The measure will be open for a 60-day comment period at the WTO, and is expected to be adopted in Q3 2022, with entry into force 20 days after publication in the EU Official Journal. Further information is available at this link.