Beauty Care Topics
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Safety/Product
Official surveillance of cosmetic products
An important contribution to the safety of cosmetic products is made by public food surveillance in the Federal States. Wherever cosmetic products are manufactured or sold, public inspectors carry out plant inspections or take samples in the plants or in the trade.
Nationwide control
The sampling and inspection of the plants comes within the sphere of responsibility of cities and districts. Every year many inspections of cosmetics manufacturers are made and thousands of samples are taken. The inspectors work in a risk-based manner: particularly sensitive cosmetics and plants are inspected more frequently. The samples are tested – for instance for one or more ingredients or their correct labelling – by the investigation laboratories of the cities, districts and Federal States. The Federal States are in charge of enforcement; they prosecute and punish any infringements of laws.
Central co-ordination
The Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety supports the surveillance activities. It compiles the results from food surveillance from the Federal States and processes them in reports. On this basis the national and Federal State level elaborate joint surveillance plans.
See also www.bvl.bund.de, Section "Kosmetik und Kontrollen/Bundesweiter Überwachungsplan" (in German).
Surveillance from the raw material to the finished product
The surveillance system encompasses the entire supply chain. Already at the borders import controls take place. The official food surveillance inspects the cosmetic finished products but also the production sides of manufacturers as well as craftsmen and retailers. An important basis for the effective controlling is represented, however, by the quality management system of the manufacturers themselves, i.e. self-control.