Oman notifies WTO of Cosmetic and Personal Care Products Regulations

Oman notified the WTO of draft of technical regulations for cosmetics and personal care products. This regulation sets the general safety requirements as well as labeling and packaging requirements for such products. Products included in Annex 1 such as skin creams, lotions, face mask, make-up powder, soaps, perfumes, bath products, hair products are examples of products covered by this regulation.

The regulation includes requirements such as the products being free of pork and all its derivatives, safe for human health and homogenous and stable during its shelf life. Also, the products must not contain the prohibited and restricted substances mentioned in Annexes II and III in the European regulation EC No. 1223/2009 and its updates. The substances mentioned in Table 1 of this technical regulation can be used only if the restrictions in the same table are met. As for the list of colorants, preservatives and UV filters allowed, they are mentioned in annexes 4,5 and 6 and are the same as the ones mentioned in Annexes (IV, V, VI) of the European regulation EC No. 1223/2009 and its updates. The technical regulation also requires manufacturers to comply with good manufacturing practice and the microbiological limits in GSO standards.

The regulation also states that in case of the presence of prohibited substances, its levels must not exceed the following limits:

• • Lead: 10 ppm
  • Arsenic: 3 ppm
  • Cadmium: 3 ppm
  • Mercury: 1 ppm
  • Antimony: 5 ppm
  • 1,4 – Dioxane: 10 ppm

As for the marking and labelling requirements, the products must bear information such as name of product, manufacturer/distributor information, country of origin, nominal content, date of manufacture, expiry date, conditions of use, precautionary information, batch number, its function, list of ingredients, etc.

Packaging of cosmetics and personal care products should be designed to withstand any damage and deterioration. Metal aerosol dispensers must comply with the requirements in the GSO standard mentioned in this technical regulation.

The final date for comments is 15 days from notification and this regulation is set to be enforced 6 months after issuance.

The WTO notification can be viewed from the following:
https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/FE_Search/FE_S_S009-DP.aspx?language=E&HasEnglishRecord=True&HasFrenchRecord=False&HasSpanishRecord=False&CatalogueIdList=278045,277967,277907,277913,277824,277819,277738,277551,277504,277369&CurrentCatalogueIdIndex=1&FullTextHash=696050761

The draft Decree can be downloaded from the following:
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2021/TBT/OMN/21_6591_00_e.pdf