On August 1, 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union upheld the 2022 judgment of the General Court and the annulment of the classification of titanium dioxide in certain powder forms as a carcinogenic substance.
As a reminder, in 2016, the Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail (National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES), France) submitted to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) a proposal for classification of titanium dioxide as a carcinogen by inhalation.
The following year, the ECHA Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) adopted an opinion stating that the classification of that substance was justified.
On the basis of that opinion, in 2019, the European Commission adopted Regulation (EU) 2020/217 (14th ATP of CLP), proceeding with the classification and labelling of titanium dioxide as Carc.2. Regulation which was subsequently transposed into Regulation (EU) 2021/850 (3rd “CMR” Regulation) amending Cosmetics Regulation 1223/2009.
More specifically, according to the Commission, that substance was suspected of being carcinogenic to humans, by inhalation, in powder form containing 1% or more of particles of a diameter equal to or below 10 μm.
Various manufacturers, importers, downstream users and suppliers of titanium dioxide challenged that classification and labelling before the General Court of the European Union.
By judgment of 23 November 2022, the General Court annulled the contested classification and labelling.
It found, in particular, that the Commission …
