The European Union Cosmetics Regulation sets the criteria for cosmetics to be allowed to make claims

Regulation 655/2013 of the Council was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 11 July 2013. The new legislation lays down general guidelines on the justification of claims made for cosmetics. Within the European Union, the guidelines apply directly to cosmetics imported by all member States.

The Regulation is based on the framework Regulation on cosmetic products, Regulation 1223/2009, which harmonizes general guidelines throughout the EU for the assessment of the validity of claims used in the marketing of cosmetic products. The general guidelines are not intended to specify the exact wording of the claims used for cosmetic products and apply only to products identified as cosmetic products in accordance with the framework regulations and not to products such as medical products or biocides.

An annex to the regulation sets out a list of general guidelines that cosmetics are claimed to meet. According to the regulation, all cosmetic claims must be legal, truthful, supported by rational evidence, honest and fair, and the result of informed decision-making. Some important criteria are summarized as follows:

Under the heading "legal", the following provisions must be observed:

Claims indicating that the product has been licensed or approved by the competent authorities of the European Union shall not be used. An example of this claim is given in the Guidelines prepared by the European Commission for Regulation 655/2013: "This product complies with the requirements of EU legislation on cosmetics". Fundamentally, all products placed on the EU market must comply with EU regulations on cosmetics.

Claiming to convey the message that the product has a specific benefit that merely meets minimum legal requirements should not be used. The Guidelines give an example of this claim: "Hydroquinone free skin care products." Since hydroquinone has been banned under EU cosmetics regulations, this claim cannot be used.

On the "truth" side, the legislation provides for a number of criteria, including:

Marketing communications must not imply that the opinion expressed is a verified claim unless the opinion reflects verified justification. For example, any product that explicitly or implicitly claims to contain honey must actually contain honey, not just the smell of honey, in order to be authentic.

In terms of "probable cause support", the provisions of the Statute include:

Cosmetic claims, whether express or implied, should be supported by adequate and verifiable evidence, including expert assessment where appropriate.

Statements that are significantly exaggerated and not taken seriously by the average end-user, or statements that are abstract in nature are not subject to verification.

Under the heading of "honesty", the following guidelines are worth noting:

The performance of the introduced product should not go beyond the scope supported by existing justifications. For example, the claim that "one million consumers liked the product" should not be used based on sales figures of one million units.

In terms of "fairness", the regulations set out the following general guidelines:

Cosmetic claims should be objective and should not denigrate competitors or legitimately used ingredients. For example, "no preservatives and therefore not susceptible to sensitization" is unfair because the claim assumes that all preservatives are allergenic.

Cosmetic claims must not be confused with rival products.

In addition to providing illustrative examples of some of the claims covered by the general Guidelines, the Guidelines also detail examples of the justifications used for cosmetic claims. The Guidelines say this can usually be done through experimental studies, consumer cognitive tests and public information to verify cosmetic claims.