Ironically, the European Commission has just published the latest update to its Glossary of Cosmetic Ingredients, while proposing that it be abandoned in the name of administrative simplification. The implementing decision making it official appeared in the Official Journal of the European Union on July 10, 2025.
This update has been drawn up and published in accordance with Article 33 of the Cosmetics Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009, which requires the Commission to draw up and update a Glossary of Common Names of Ingredients to be used in product labelling.
The updates include: the inclusion of new ingredient names, the correction of errors, and the removal of INCI names that are no longer in use… As a result, the new Glossary lists 30,418 ingredients, compared with 30,070 in the previous version.
This Decision shall apply from 30 July 2026, but it is specified that economic operators may use these designations on labelling from 30 July 2025.
And this may well be the last of its kind if the proposal to simplify “certain requirements and procedures applicable to chemicals”, published by the European Commission, comes into force. It provides for the repeal of Article 33 of the Regulation, and with it the Glossary and all references to it, particularly in the Annexes.
