Preservatives by Frequency of Use in Cosmetic Formulations

The use of preservatives for cosmetic purposes is regulated in the EU by the Commission Directive 2007/17/EC of 22 March 2007, amending Council Directive 76/768/EEC, concerning cosmetic products, for the purposes of adapting Annexes III and VI.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/Notice.do?mode=dbl&lang=en&ihmlang=en&lng1=en,de&lng2=bg,cs,da,de,el,en,es,et,fi,fr,hu,it,lt,lv,nl,pl,pt,ro,sk,sl,sv,&val=446113:cs&page=#top

The Annex VI of the Council Directive 76/768/EEC can be found under

http://borealischem.com/pdf/Annex6%20Parts1-2PreservativesList.pdf

In the US preservatives are registered by the FDA.

In Japan the use of preservatives in cosmetics is regulated by the “Standards for Cosmetics” (Ministry of Health and Welfare Notification No.331 of 2000), Appendix 3, see also

http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/topics/cosmetics/index.html

The frequency of use of preservatives in the US in 2005 is given in the following table.

Reference: D. C. Steinberg, 2005 Preservatives use: Frequency reports and registration, Cosmetic and Toiletries magazine 121(7), 65-69 (2006).