As announced, Health Canada has just updated its Cosmetics Notification Form to reflect its new “flexible approach” regarding the disclosure of the concentration information of certain fragrance allergens.
As a reminder, the amendments to the Cosmetics Regulation in April 2024 introduced a requirement, effective from 12 April 2026, to disclose 24 fragrance allergens (the “historical” European allergens) on cosmetic labels when they are present at a concentration exceeding 0.01% in rinse-off products and 0.001% in leave-on products.
Another new requirement is that the presence and concentration of these allergens must be indicated in the cosmetic notification form.
It is this latter provision that Health Canada is relaxing today, in line with its announcement in early March, following concerns raised by the industry regarding its practical feasibility.
The new rule
In most cases, companies now will not be required to include a concentration or concentration range for certain fragrance allergens, when present above 0.001% in leave-on products or 0.01% in rinse-off products.
However, when a concentration-related condition for the fragrance allergen is described on the Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist, the exact concentration or concentration range code for the fragrance allergen remains mandatory.
Changes made to the form
In Section 5 - Product Ingredients, the checkbox entitled “Fragrance Allergen” was renamed to “Fragrance allergen present above the disclosure threshold”.
When this checkbox is used (and …
