IMPLEMENTATION OF ARTICLE 19 OF
THE GENERAL PRODUCT SAFETYREGULATION ON MANDATORYPRODUCT INFORMATION IN DISTANCESALES, AS APPLYING TO COSMETICPRODUCTSGUIDANCE DOCUMENT
Disclaimer: These Guidelines have been drafted by Cosmetics Europe with the view of clarifying theapplication of Article 19 of the GPSR to cosmetic products and are for information purposes only.

28/11/2023
Contact person: Manuela Coroama, mcoroama@cosmeticseurope.eu

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Table of Contents
1.

Introduction
1.1
1.2
1.3

2.

Regulations applicable to cosmetic products sold online / in distance sales
2.1
2.2
2.3

3.

General Product Safety Regulation
Interface between the General Product Safety Regulation and the Cosmetic Products
Regulation
Purpose of this document

Cosmetic Products Regulation
General Product Safety Regulation, Article 19
Other EU and national applicable regulations

Interpretation of the requirements in General Product Safety Regulation, Article 19, inrelation to cosmetic products
3.1
3.2
3.3

What information should be indicated at online/distance points of sales of cosmetic
products?
Who is responsible for what?
How should the required information be provided by cosmetics companies to online/distance sale retailers?

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1.

INTRODUCTION

General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR)The General Product Safety Regulation1 (GPSR), which repeals the former General Product Safety
Directive2, lays down essential rules on the safety of consumer products placed or made available on
the market. Its objective is to improve the functioning of the internal market while providing for a highlevel of consumer protection.3
The GPSR is already in force and will directly apply in all Member States as of 13 December 2024.
Interface between the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) and the Cosmetic Products
Regulation (CPR)
Not all the provisions of the GPSR apply to cosmetic products. Indeed, as cosmetic products areregulated under the Cosmetic Products Regulation4 (CPR) which imposes specific safety requirements,
the GPSR applies only to those aspects and risks or categories of risks which are not covered by thoserequirements. In that respect, Article 19 of the GPSR, related to information to be provided in the caseof online / distance sales, does apply to cosmetic products and is complementary to the requirementsof the CPR and in particular of its Article 19 which establishes the on-pack labelling rules for cosmetics.
Purpose of this document
This guidance document is aimed to provide an overview of the requirements of Article 19 of the GPSR
and an understanding of these requirements, as applying to cosmetic products.

2.

REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO COSMETIC PRODUCTS SOLD ONLINE / IN DISTANCE SALES

2.1

CPR

Economic operators selling cosmetic products online or through other means of distance sales,
whether established within or outside the EU, and directly targeting EU consumers must follow all therelevant legal requirements of the CPR.
Indeed, the CPR establishes the rules to be complied with by any cosmetic product made available on
the market, in order to provide a high level of protection of human health, whilst ensuring thefunctioning of the internal market5.

1

REGULATION (EU) 2023/988 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 10 May 2023 on generalproduct safety, amending Regulation (EU) No 1025/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council andDirective (EU) 2020/1828 of the European Parliament and the Council, and repealing Directive 2001/95/EC ofthe European Parliament and of the Council and Council Directive 87/357/EEC, OJ, L 135, 23.05.2023, p. 1.
2DIRECTIVE 2001/95/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 3 December 2001 on generalproduct safety, OJ, L 11, 15.01.2002, p. 4.
3Article 1, GPSR.
REGULATION (EC) No 1223/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 30 November
2009 on cosmetic products, OJ, L 342, 22.12.2009, p. 59.
5Article 1, CPR.
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Establishing the central concept of a responsible person for each cosmetic product placed on the EUmarket6, the CPR also allocates responsibilities to the various actors along the supply chain.7
2.2

GPSR, Article 19

In addition to the requirements imposed by the CPR, economic operators willing to make cosmetic
products available on the EU market via online / distance sales, have to comply with the obligations
set out in Article 19 of the GPSR.
Article 19 of the GPSR requires that where economic operators make products available on the market
online or through other means of distance sales, the offer of those products shall clearly and visiblyindicate at least the following information:(a) name, registered trade name or registered trademark of the manufacturer, as well as the postal
and electronic address at which they can be contacted;(b) where the manufacturer is not established in the Union, the name, postal and electronic address of
the responsible person within the meaning of Article 16(1) of this Regulation or Article 4(1) ofRegulation (EU) 2019/1020;(c) information allowing the identification of the product, including a picture of it, its type and any otherproduct identifier; and(d) any warning or safety information to be affixed to the product or to the packaging or included in anaccompanying document in accordance with this Regulation or the applicable Union harmonisation
legislation in a language which can be easily understood by consumers, as determined by the Member
State in which the product is made available on the market.
Section 3 of this document further details the requirements imposed by Article 19, GPSR.
2.3

Other EU and national applicable regulations

Furthermore, it should also be given consideration to any other European (e.g. the Digital Services Act,
the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Consumer Rights Directive, etc.) or national legislation
applicable to online/distance sales.

3.

INTERPRETATION OF THE REQUIREMENTS IN THE GENERAL PRODUCT SAFETY REGULATION,
ARTICLE 19, IN RELATION TO COSMETIC PRODUCTS

3.1

What information should be indicated at online/distance points of sales of cosmetic
products?

Article 19, GPSR identifies four types of information, listed from a) to d), to be clearly and visibly
indicated at online / distance points of sales.
For each of these four types of information, we have provided an interpretation of what we believethese mean for cosmetic products, in light of the labelling requirements of the CPR, Article 19, in orderto ensure a consistent communication towards consumers.86Article 4.1, CPR.
For the delineation of these responsibilities, see CE’s guide ‘Roles and Responsibilities along the Supply Chain,a Practical Guide’, https://cosmeticseurope.eu/library/8
It is important to note that these provisions of the GPSR do not affect the on-pack labelling of cosmetic products
which are offered at online / distance points of sales. As cosmetic products are explicitly excluded from the7Page 4 of 6

(a) name, registered trade name or registered trademark of the manufacturer, as well as thepostal and electronic address at which they can be contacted;•Manufacturer: for cosmetic products, the manufacturer is understood as the “responsibleperson”. Indeed, according to the CPR, Article 4.3, “for a cosmetic product manufactured
within the Community, and not subsequently exported and imported back into theCommunity, the manufacturer established within the Community shall be the responsibleperson”.
• Postal address: according to the CPR, Art. 19.1.a, the postal address can be abbreviated in sofar as it makes it possible to identify the ‘responsible person’ and their address. For consistency
towards the consumer, as well as consistency of RP data9, the abbreviation option allowed by
the CPR should also apply to the information required under the GPSR, Art. 19.1(a).10• Electronic address: this is understood as either an email address or a website address
Note: the above information is not required if it is legible in the picture of the product sold (see point(c) below).
(b) where the manufacturer is not established in the Union, the name, postal and electronic addressof the responsible person within the meaning of Article 16(1) of this Regulation or Article 4(1) ofRegulation (EU) 2019/1020;•Responsible person: the CPR requires that for imported cosmetic products, each importer shallbe the ‘responsible person’ for the specific products that he/she places on the market;•Postal and electronic address: same as in paragraph (a) above.
Note: this information is not required if it is legible in the picture of the product sold (see point (c)below).
(c) information allowing the identification of the product, including a picture of it, its type and anyother product identifier;•••Picture: a legible picture that identifies the product; for product ranges (e.g. a lipstick in several
colours/shades) one picture should be sufficient if the various colours/shades are mentioned
in the proximity of the picture, i.e. on the same webpage; similarly, in case of a product soldin different sizes, one picture should be sufficient if the various sizes are mentioned in theproximity of the picture, i.e. on the same webpage.
Type: this is understood as corresponding to the function of the cosmetic product, asrequired by the CPR (unless it is clear from its presentation). This information is not required
if it is legible in the description or picture of the product sold.
Any other product identifier: other product identifiers that may be provided by companies(where relevant) are the product name including the trademark/brand, the product line/range
and the specific name of the product as they appear on the product. This information is not
required if it is legible in the picture of the product sold.

Note: the batch number is not required as it is not relevant to the actual product that the consumer
will purchase because it is a dynamic code; furthermore, it is always printed on-pack.
requirements of Chapter III, Section 1, of which Art. 16 is a part, they in particular do not have to be labelled with
an electronic address.
9
To avoid storing two different versions of the same data in two different places
10However, the possibility to abbreviate the address shall be evaluated on a case-by-case basis in the country
where the address is located, with the goal of ensuring that the consumer can identify the Responsible Person’sname and address.

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(d) any warning or safety information to be affixed to the product or to the packaging or included inan accompanying document in accordance with this Regulation or the applicable Union
harmonisation legislation in a language which can be easily understood by consumers, asdetermined by the Member State in which the product is made available on the market•Any warning or safety information: the CPR, Article 19.1(d), requires the labelling of “particularprecautions to be observed in use”; where required by the CPR, these are listed in its Annexes
III to VI; in addition to these, other precautionary statements and warnings recommended by
the product’s safety assessor, as per Annex I, Part B.2 of the CPR, may be printed on the label
under the responsibility of the responsible person. The information elements mentioned
above correspond to the information required under the GPSR, Article 19.1(d). It is
recommended to transmit to retailers all such information, regardless of the medium on which
it is printed (on-pack label, leaflet, insert, etc.). This information is not required if it is legible
in the picture of the product sold.
Note: Instructions for use that are not linked to the product’s safe use are not required.
3.2

Who is responsible11 for what?

When the economic operator selling cosmetic products online is not the ‘responsible person’ in thesense of the CPR (e.g. when the economic operator is a retailer), the responsibility for compliance withArticle 19 of the GPSR is shared between the ‘responsible person’ for the cosmetic product, designatedin accordance with the CPR, and the online/distance sale retailer. The ‘responsible person’ isresponsible for providing the required information and for maintaining it up to date. The retailer isresponsible for indicating/displaying it at the online or distance point of sale. The responsible person
may want to consider establishing these shared responsibilities via a contractual agreement with theretailer.
3.3

How should the required information be provided by cosmetics companies to online/
distance sales retailers?

Data sharing
The ‘responsible person’ in the sense of the CPR should determine the way – i.e. the process, supportand timing - in which the information should be provided to the retailer. The responsible person may
want to consider establishing these elements via a contractual agreement with the retailer.
Languages12
Companies making cosmetic products available on the market via online or other means of distancesales should ensure that consumers have access to the required information in the language(s)determined by the law of the Member State under CPR Article 19.5..
However, the information required under paragraphs (a) and (b) of GPSR Art. 19.1 is not required tobe translated, except where different alphabets are used.

11

See Cosmetics Europe’s guide ‘Roles and Responsibilities along the Supply Chain, a Practical Guide’,
https://cosmeticseurope.eu/library/
12
Same as [11] above

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