Cosmetics: Northern Ireland

(asked on 20th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2021 to Question 136096, what financial support the Government plans to provide to importers that will become responsible persons for the purpose of cosmetic imports in the event they are subject to associated additional costs.


Answered by
Paul Scully Portrait
Paul Scully
This question was answered on 25th January 2021

Under the terms of the Protocol, the EU’s Cosmetics Regulations apply in Northern Ireland and set out the requirements that must be met before cosmetic products are placed on the market in Northern Ireland and the EU. The Office for Product Safety and Standards has provided detailed guidance for cosmetics businesses on Gov.uk that sets out the obligations under the relevant cosmetic legislation that applies in Great Britain and in Northern Ireland.

In addition, the UK has put in place arrangements for Northern Ireland businesses to have unfettered access to the rest of the UK market, and this means that the same safe cosmetic products that can be sold in Northern Ireland can also be sold in Great Britain regardless of future changes to the rules in GB. It is essential that a Responsible Person within the UK is identified for all cosmetic products to maintain consumer protection and confidence.

We recognise that some businesses may incur some additional costs and Government has worked closely with the business community to reduce any additional costs by making the notifications process by Responsible Persons for the market in Great Britain as simple as possible, allowing an additional 90 days to notify a product onto the UK database if it had been previously notified, and allowing for an additional two years from 1 January 2021 for businesses to update labelling on cosmetic products to reflect the new Responsible Person.

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