G/TBT/N/CHE/199
13 August 2015
(15-4147)  Page: 1/2
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: French
 
  NOTIFICATION 
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Notifying Member: SWITZERLAND 
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):  
2. Agency responsible: Office fédéral de la sécurité alimentaire et des affaires vétérinaires , 
OSAV (Federal Office for Food Se curity and Veterinary Affairs) 
Name and address (including telephon e and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:  
Secrétariat d'Etat à l'économie , SECO (State Secretariat for Economic Affairs) 
Holzikofenweg 36 3003 Berne 
Fax: +41 (0)58 464 09 58 
Email: tbt@seco.admin.ch  
Website: http://www.seco.admin.ch/   
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2. 10.1 [ ], 5.6.2 [ ],  5.7.1 [ ], other:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided  in addition where applicable): Cosmetics 
5. • Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  
• Ordonnance sur les denrées alimentaires et les objets usuels (ODAIOUs) (Ordinance 
on food and basic commodities) 
• Ordonnance sur les cosmétiques (OCos) (Ordinance on cosmetics)  (413 pages, in 
German, French and Italian)  
6. Description of content: The main amendments made to the Ordinance on Cosmetics 
concern formal marketing requirements: 
• Documentation on cosmetics which must be made available to the competent 
authorities upon request: a product information file containing a safety assessment report prepared by a qualified person; 
• Conformity with standards on good manufacturing practices (GMP, conformity with 
ISO standards); 
• Traceability; 
• Introduction of a new cosmetovigilance system (obligation to report serious 
undesirable effects); 
• Clear obligations for all market participants (manufacturers, importers in Switzerland 
and distributors); 
• Labelling; 
• Introduction of six criteria to be met by claims concerning cosmetics. 
The annexes containing lists of substances have been updated and other annexes 
containing safety reports, claims criteria and microbiological criteria have been added. 
General requirements concerning basic commodities including cosmetics have been G/TBT/N/CHE/199 
- 2 - 
  established in a revised version of the Ordinance on food and basic commodities, namely in 
Articles 43 to 45, 51 to 59 and 79. The marketing of cosmetics where the final formulation 
or ingredients have been the subject of animal testing (see Article 58) will be prohibited. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable: Partially harmonize standards with the technical requirements of the main 
economic partner: minimize discrepancies with the European Union (Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, on cosmetic products), and 
ensure an equivalent level of safety in  Switzerland in the field of cosmetics. 
8. Relevant documents: The draft technical regulation can be downloaded from the 
complete draft revision of the legislation on food and basic commodities, which is available 
at: http://www.blv.admin.ch/dokumentation /01013/05845/05846/index.html?lang=fr  
9. Proposed date of adoption: July 2016 
Proposed date of entry into force: July 2016  
10. Final date for comments: 1 November 2015 
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [X] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresse s, if available, of other body:  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2015/TBT/CHE/15_3127_00_f.pdf 
https://members.wto.org/crnattachme nts/2015/TBT/CHE/15_3127_01_f.pdf