Central Government, in order to enhance the safety of the cosmetic products, has proposed the product composition details clause shall be mentioned in the approval issued by the licensing authority in the country. At present Maharashtra is practicing this format of approval for cosmetics. According to Drug Consultative Committee (DCC) meeting held on 31st Jan and 1st Feb 2019, the proposed draft will be incorporated in the final version of the Cosmetics Rules 2018, once finalized.
The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 ("Act') does not require product composition details for approval of cosmetic products. However, many incidences during sample investigation of approved products by Drug Inspectors have reported the presence of various traces of harmful elements that should not be a part of cosmetics. At such times, the manufacturers claims that they have submitted the composition details to the licensing authority but on the license submitted by these firms only the name of cosmetics is mentioned without its composition; placing the investigation officer under dilemma for taking proper action.
Now, the DCC has considered that complete composition details clause of cosmetics product shall be mentioned in the approval issued by the licensing authority in the country in following format for uniformity throughout the country –
| S. No | Name of ingredient | Specification of ingredient | Percentage of ingredient | Purpose or function of ingredient |
The Drug Controllers from Maharashtra have also highlighted this issue and suggested a provision to mention the percentage of restricted ingredients on product labels to make it easier for the field officer to detect violations. But the suggestion was rejected by DCC panel saying that "the composition of ingredients is reviewed as per prescribed standards while granting the manufacturing license". Note: While deliberating the proposal it was informed that finalization of draft Cosmetics Rules, 2018 is under consideration and DCC recommended that the matter may be considered while finalizing the rules.1
Conclusion:
The Central Government via this provision will certainly bring a uniformity in licensing process all over the country and ease the inspection process of cosmetics product for field officer. Moreover, it will also enhance the safety of cosmetic products through the display of specification/percentage of its ingredients.
Footnote
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