Product labelling and European law

[BobSweden]

Often on this site the issue of low-cost salons is raised and their use of illegal MMA material. But did you know that there are other products in the market that are sold illegally?

In order to sell products in the EU there are laws to protect the purchaser and user (which may be different). The company that imports the products into the country (or the company that manufacturers there) has the responsibility to follow these laws which can be summarized as follows:

1. Cosmetic products have to be registered with the local Department of Health. This is so that if a consumer develops health problems then the hospital is able to look in a database and find out the name of the importer and obtain the MSDS in order to provide medical care.

3. Availability of MSDS sheets in the language of the market sold in. For example, products sold in France need MSDS in French.

3. Cosmetic products have to be correctly labeled. The information can be on the jar, or on the packaging or as a note in the box. The minimum information for professional nail products is:

• name of manufacturer
• address of manufacturer
• phone number
• ingredients
• part number
• lot number (this allows tracking to the exact manufacturing run. May also be called SKU number))
• weight (may be approximate weight if correct symbol used)
• warning symbols as required (eg. flammable, hazard, irritant symbols - mostly this applies to liquids such as monomer, brush cleaner, wiping solution etc)
• the statement "FOR PROFESSIONAL USE ONLY"
• a statement where manufactured, eg. "Manufacturered in the USA for (or by) xyz, Inc)

Most of us are not in favour of people who don't pay taxes. Should we then be in favour of companies that take short-cuts with safety and don't label correctly? What about if their product was under-weight?

In the same way that nail techs who don't pay full tax are putting the law abiding techs at an unfair advantage (whose charges have to be higher), the same is true of manufacturers and importers who sell product illegally. Law abiding and professional manufacturers have to pay for legal advice and other additional costs, and these costs have to be included in the product price - again placing them at a disadvantage.

We've bought products that we know understand to have been incorrectly labeled and on closer inspection were up to 30% underweight. 30%!! That's like paying 30% more ! And yes, this was a well known manufacturer...

So when you have a few moments, take a look at the products you buy and see if they comply with the law. Remember, it's also your responsibility to only use legal products on your clients.

Bob

 

[Nataliya]

Thanks for this valueable info Bob. I am proud to say that my manufacturer and distributor is trustworthy and the best for my needs))) You know who you are)))

 

[geeg]

Interestingly there was a post the other day about having your own label polish for the salon ..........

I pointed out in that thread that it was important to have correct labels on every bottle etc (like Bob has just done) and that doing this ups the cost of the cheap own-label polish quite a bit.

My post and advice was completely ignored (naturally) by the original poster but they will find out that what they are doing by not labeling correctly will be illegal. What they will end up with is a cheap polish (that won't end up being cheap) and a label that clients will have never heard of and most likely won't want either. Oh well, you can try to advise but you can't make people listen.

Own brand polish is entirely an EGO thing IMHO.

 

[LOU LOU]

Hi Geeg,

Is there a link to read up on this law etc?

Thanks

 

[geeg]

I think our dear darling Bob has about covered it but I'm sure he will know if there is a link. Great information Bob .. thank you.

 

[BobSweden]

The document is called the EC Regulation 1229/2009 for Cosmetic Products. The link is below:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:342:0059:0209:EN:PDF

It's 151 pages :zzz:

Most European and the big US companies such as CND are familiar with this and adhere to the regulations. The problem from my observation is the smaller US companies (even those well known) and a company from Korea. One of these doesn't even print the weight on some of their products.

Regarding the product we found to be between 20 to 30% underweight. We used a scientific scale that's sensitive to 1/100th gram and self calibrates - so not much margin of error ;-). But the truly bizarre thing was we tried to add the missing 30% using more of their material and it wouldn't fit in their jar! So the jar was also too small.

Their mistake I believe was to assume that 1ml of powder = 1 gram. Normally jars are bought from manufacturers are specified in ml. So this company assumed that an x ml jar would hold x g of powder. This assumption is only true for water! Powder is lighter and gel is heavier - so you have to know this when you buy the jars to ensure you get the correct size.

Of course, this also means the company didn't bother to weigh their products at all! Otherwise their error would have been found. Not a quality led company...

 

[cabinkel]

This is very usefull information for all areas of our industry eh? Thank you x

 

[angel fingers]

it is a very interesting subject.
also i hope it goes some way to explaining how the end price is arrived at when people see all that goes into developing a product and distributing too.
theres a lot more than meets the eye.