There is no way to talk about the use of any kind of cannabis in Europe without running into a mouthful of long, number-delineated if not hyphenated directives. Cannabis Sativa L is, ultimately, a plant with many uses by humans. Every one of those applications, but particularly consumables, carries its own rules.
The cosmetics space is no exception.
There is good news though. Critical pieces of such regulation have now been changed over the last several months in the EU, and it will have a huge impact on the development of the vertical across the region.
The Changes Now In Effect In The EU – By The Book
Here is the official version of what just happened. Up until February 3, 2021, natural cannabidiol (CBD) was banned from use in cosmetics under the European Cosmetic Regulation 1223/2009 per section 306 – Narcotics, natural and synthetic of Annex II. This is also known colloquially as the “CosIng Index” which requires products to contain a list of ingredients under their common names on the packaging label.
The first natural CBD listing in CosIng has now been added.
What is the impact on the burgeoning cosmetics industry in Europe if not elsewhere, likely to be? Especially in light of the European Commission decision in December, 2020, that CBD was also not a narcotic, as well as the lawsuit last fall at the European Court of Justice about the legality of the French ban on CBD extracted products in particular?
CBD Cosmetics and Skin Care In Europe
The reality is that this entire vertical crosses over into both a recreational discussion as well as a medical one. CBD is now being added to skincare products for various reasons, including its claimed efficacy on conditions like acne, eczema, and wrinkles. But how many of these claims can actually be proven?
Further, the guidelines and dosage, as well as possible interactions with other medicine are an area mostly off the table so far because of the prohibition on using cannabis, at all, in any form, and in any vertical.
There are, of course, many bootleg products on the market here, just as there are in the U.S. This is as true of cosmetics as it is of food. However, by bringing clearer definition to the industry by allowing existing regulations to be applied, the industry will now have a set of rules and guidelines to follow that are designed to protect consumers.
For those who are in that part of the industry, this is only a good thing.
It Will Give The Cosmetics Space Room To Breath
The first thing this change does, according to Joanna Weaver-Pélissier, co-founder and CEO of Be Cann, a firm that develops and produces cosmetics located in Ardèche, France, is that “it will give the industry a better grounding in a regulated, certifiable space. That has been very hard to do until now,” she said. “This ruling gives us something that is definable and incorporable into formal cosmetic industry and processes required for the same, which is far more formal here in Europe than North America. It takes us about ten months to get into the market with any cosmetic product we produce – and all of that has to be performed via a series of highly defined periods of development. It will really allow the CBD cosmetics field to become a more sophisticated space.”
According to many, (not just Weaver-Pélissier) one of the larger problems in…
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