Resources/EU label & INCI
EU cosmetic label & INCI ingredient list requirements
Disclaimer: The information provided in this guide is for educational and regulatory context purposes only and does not constitute formal legal advice. Compliance requirements can vary based on formulation, regional authority updates, and specific product claims. Consult a certified regulatory affairs professional or specialized legal counsel for official filings. See Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 for current text.
Article 19 of the Cosmetics Regulation sets the mandatory label content for products sold in the EU. Get the ingredient list wrong and the whole product is non-compliant, regardless of how sound the formula itself is.
What has to be on the label
- The responsible person's name and EU address
- Nominal content at the time of packaging (weight or volume)
- Date of minimum durability, or a Period-After-Opening (PAO) symbol where shelf-stable
- Particular precautions to be observed in use
- Batch number or a reference identifying the product batch
- The product's function, unless obvious from its presentation
- The full ingredient list, in the format below
INCI ingredient list: the 1% rule
Ingredients are listed by their common name — INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients), drawn from the Commission's CosIng glossary — not trade names or raw-material blend names.
Ordering follows a single cutoff: ingredients present above 1% by weight (at the point they're added to the formula) must be listed in strictly descending order of concentration. Ingredients at or below 1% can then be listed in any order after them.
Colourants are named differently: for any colourant except hair-colouring products, the label uses the CI (Colour Index) number — e.g. CI 42053 — rather than an INCI name, drawn from the permitted list in Annex IV.
Fragrance and aromatic ingredients are generally listed as "parfum" or "aroma" rather than broken out — except the 80+ individually regulated fragrance allergens (26 original, expanded by Regulation 2023/1545) that must be named separately once they exceed threshold concentrations. See our fragrance allergen labeling guide for those thresholds — they're a separate, additional rule on top of the general ingredient list.
Building the ingredient list by hand invites ordering and naming mistakes. Run a free INCI compliance scan, or sign in to check a full formulation, including allergen thresholds, across EU and export markets at once.
Related: EU CosIng and INCI basics, fragrance allergen labeling.