The Belgian and Luxembourg association for producers and distributors of cosmetics, cleaning and maintenance products, adhesives, sealants, biocides and aerosols.
The Belgian and Luxembourg association for producers and distributors of cosmetics, cleaning and maintenance products, adhesives, sealants, biocides and aerosols.
On the stroke of midnight on Monday, 1 September, Trimethylbenzoyl Diphenylphosphine Oxide, TPO for short, disappeared from all cosmetic products. But this was not an enchanted transformation or a magic trick like in Cinderella, but an abrupt ban without a transitional period, without any postponement, without mercy.
TPO, an ingredient that was used in nail products to harden nails under UV light, was classified as CMR: potentially carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic. Since then, products containing TPO may no longer be “put on the market”. But what exactly does that mean?
Well, that’s where the shoe pinches! These nail products are intended for professional use by nail stylists or in beauty parlours, for example. But the government considers these professionals to be product distributors or dealers. And that is not only illogical. It’s unjustified as well.
Service providers do not sell products. They use them. The service is the product. And yet salons are no longer allowed to use their existing stocks, even if they were bought long before the ban.
Just like Cinderella who lost her glass slipper at midnight, these people suddenly lost their right to professional use. But whereas Cinderella at least got her shoe back and was able to marry the prince, professional users have been left in the lurch with unusable stocks of nail products and dissatisfied clients. No transitional period, no nuance and no justice. And so no prince on a white horse either.
Unfortunately, the clock cannot be turned back and the ban on TPO remains in force. Which is why we as the Belgian cosmetics sector, in the context of the up-and-coming review of the European cosmetics regulation, are calling for clear transitional periods for the professional use of cosmetics products. Just like those that already exist for the gradual withdrawal of products from trade. The interpretation of professional use also needs to be urgently reviewed. Because regulations not only have to protect. They also have to do justice to the reality of service providers. Otherwise the shoe will pinch harder than ever.