Holding cosmetics stock for the EU market

A cosmetic product may be placed on the EU market only if a person established in the EU is designated as its Responsible Person under Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009. For a product made outside the EU, that is the importer, unless the importer designates another EU person by written mandate. This role belongs to the Cosmetics Regulation and is separate from the Responsible Person under the General Product Safety Regulation.

Everything else in the supply chain works around that designation. The Responsible Person notifies the product, answers for its label and safety file, and is the name on the pack. Distributors and warehouses then have their own, narrower duties.

Who is the Responsible Person for a cosmetic made outside the EU?

Article 4(1) is the gate: “Only cosmetic products for which a legal or natural person is designated within the Community as ‘responsible person’ shall be placed on the market.” Article 4(2) gives the scope: for each product placed on the market, the Responsible Person ensures compliance with the relevant obligations of the Regulation.

For imported products, Article 4(5) makes each importer the Responsible Person for the specific product it places on the market. The importer may designate, by written mandate, another person established in the EU, who accepts in writing. Article 4(6) adds that a distributor becomes the Responsible Person if it places a product on the market under its own name or trademark, or modifies a product already on the market in a way that may affect compliance. Translating product information does not count as such a modification.

Is it the same as the GPSR Responsible Person?

No. The two roles come from different laws, cover different products and carry different duties.

The GPSR, Regulation (EU) 2023/988, applies to products where there are no sector-specific provisions with the same objective. For most consumer products, it requires an economic operator established in the EU to carry out defined compliance tasks, the role commonly called the GPSR Responsible Person. GPSR and the Responsible Person, explained sets out that role.

Cosmetics already have their own regime. The Cosmetics Regulation’s Responsible Person keeps the product information file, ensures the safety assessment, notifies the product and answers for its labelling. A company that holds the GPSR role for a consumer product does not thereby hold the cosmetics role, and the reverse is also true.

Must a cosmetic be notified before it goes on sale?

Yes. Under Article 13(1), “prior to placing the cosmetic product on the market the responsible person shall submit, by electronic means,” a defined set of information to the Commission. The submission goes through the Commission’s Cosmetic Products Notification Portal, known as the CPNP. It covers, among other things, the product category and name, the Responsible Person’s details, the country of origin for imports, the member state where the product is first placed, nanomaterials and certain substances, and the frame formulation.

Article 13(3) adds a duty for distributors. A distributor that makes a product, already on the market in one member state, available in another, and translates any element of its labelling on its own initiative to meet national law, must notify too.

What must be on a cosmetic label in the EU?

Article 19(1) lists the mandatory particulars. The main ones are:

• the name or registered name and address of the Responsible Person, and the country of origin for imported products;
• the nominal content, with exceptions for very small packs, free samples and single-application packs;
• the date of minimum durability, or, where durability exceeds 30 months, the period after opening for which the product is safe, shown with the open-jar symbol;
• particular precautions for use;
• the batch number of manufacture or a reference identifying the product;
• the function, unless clear from the presentation;
• the list of ingredients, preceded by the word “ingredients”.

Language is set nationally. Under Article 19(5), the language of the nominal content, durability, precautions and function is determined by the law of the member state where the product is made available to the end user. A pack sold in Spain and Italy therefore needs both countries’ requirements met.

What does a distributor of cosmetics have to check?

Article 6 sets out distributor duties. Under Article 6(2), before making a product available, distributors verify that the Responsible Person’s details, the batch number and the ingredient list are present, that the national language requirements are met, and that the date of minimum durability, where applicable, has not passed.

Under Article 6(3), a distributor that has reason to believe a product does not conform must not make it available until it does, and where the product presents a risk to human health, it immediately informs the Responsible Person and the competent authorities. Under Article 6(4), “distributors shall ensure that, while a product is under their responsibility, storage or transport conditions do not jeopardise its compliance with the requirements set out in this Regulation.”

For stock held in a warehouse, those duties translate into three habits: book every batch with its date on receipt, pick by the earliest date first, and quarantine anything damaged, mislabelled or reported as a risk. Lot, batch and expiry control in an EU warehouse covers the records behind them.

Why does this matter now?

Cosmetics lead the EU’s alerts on dangerous products. The Commission’s Safety Gate report for 2025 recorded 4,671 alerts, a record, and cosmetics made up 36 percent of them, ahead of toys at 16 percent and electrical appliances at 11 percent. Almost eight in ten cosmetics alerts concerned a single banned synthetic fragrance.

An alert on one batch becomes a question for every party holding stock: which units, where, and sold to whom. A label that names the right Responsible Person, and a warehouse that knows its batches, turn that question into a list.

A worked example

Suppose a skincare maker from outside the EU ships a face serum to Portugal for sale in Portugal, Spain and Italy. The details are hypothetical, for the mechanics only. Its EU importer places the product on the market, so the importer is the Responsible Person unless it designates another EU person by written mandate.

Before the first sale, the Responsible Person notifies the product through the CPNP and checks the label: its own name and address, the country of origin, the batch number, the durability indication, and the particulars in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian as each country requires. The serum’s durability exceeds 30 months, so the label shows the period after opening.

The warehouse receives two batches, books each with its reference, and ships by earliest date. When a Spanish retailer asks which batch it received in March, the answer comes from the dispatch record, not from memory.

What should be settled with the warehouse before the first delivery?

• Batch and date capture. Every batch booked on receipt with its reference and, where the label carries one, its minimum durability date.
• Picking rule. Earliest date first, with any minimum remaining shelf life required by retailers.
• Label check on receipt. Whether the warehouse checks, on a sample, that the Article 19 particulars and the right languages are present, and whom it tells if they are not.
• Storage conditions. Temperature and light limits from the manufacturer, and how they are monitored.
• Quarantine and incidents. A blocked status for damaged, mislabelled or suspect stock, and a named contact at the Responsible Person for anything that may present a risk to health.

These points do not move the Responsible Person’s duties to the warehouse. They make sure that when the Responsible Person or a distributor has to answer a question, the facts exist.

This is general information, not legal or regulatory advice. The regulatory position of a specific product is confirmed with its Responsible Person and advisers.

How this runs at EFC

The two Responsible Person roles are easy to confuse, so the line is drawn plainly. EFC is not the cosmetics Responsible Person under Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 and does not notify products in the CPNP. Its GPSR Responsible Person role covers consumer products only, as described on responsible person. For beauty brands selling in Europe, EFC stores and ships stock at its base in Portugal, run with its logistics partner; the cosmetics page describes that work, and warehousing covers receiving, storage and returns.

Sources

Label	Value	Source
Responsible Person	designation within the EU as condition of placing on the market; importer is Responsible Person unless it mandates another; distributor cases	Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Article 4, EU text on legislation.gov.uk, opened 2026-08-11
Safety assessment	Responsible Person ensures a safety assessment before placing on the market	Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Article 10, EU text on legislation.gov.uk, opened 2026-08-11
Product information file	kept by the Responsible Person for ten years after the last batch is placed on the market	Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Article 11, EU text on legislation.gov.uk, opened 2026-08-11
Distributor duties	checks before supply; non-conforming products; storage and transport conditions	Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Article 6, EU text on legislation.gov.uk, opened 2026-08-11
Notification	Responsible Person notifies before placing on the market; distributor notification where it translates labelling	Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Article 13, EU text on legislation.gov.uk, opened 2026-08-11
Labelling	mandatory particulars; 30-month durability rule and open-jar symbol; language set by member state	Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, Article 19, EU text on legislation.gov.uk, opened 2026-08-11
GPSR scope	applies where there are no sector-specific provisions with the same objective	GOV.UK, EU Regulation 2023/988 on general product safety, detailed guidance, opened 2026-08-11
Safety Gate 2025	4,671 alerts; cosmetics 36 percent, toys 16 percent, electrical 11 percent; almost eight in ten cosmetics alerts on one banned synthetic fragrance	European Commission, press release IP/26/537, 5 March 2026, opened 2026-08-11