Chemicals legislation (EU)_

Modern per­fu­mery depends on a palet­te of roughly three thou­sand natu­ral and synthe­tic mole­cu­les. When the new hazard clas­ses ente­red EU law via Dele­ga­ted Regu­la­tion ²⁰²³⁄₇₀₇ (published 31 March 2023), fami­liar ingre­dients such as some nitro-musks and cer­tain woody notes requi­red fresh data or reformulation.

The essen­tial-use idea asks whether a subs­tan­ce is indis­pen­sa­ble for health, safety or the fun­ctio­ning of society. IFRA pro­vi­des evi­den­ce that fra­gran­ce sup­ports hygie­ne, emo­tio­nal well-being and cul­tu­ral expres­sion so that ingre­dients remain avai­la­ble whe­re they deli­ver clear benefits.

A pro­po­sed mix­tu­re-assess­ment fac­tor would obli­ge sup­pliers of scen­ted pro­ducts to show that com­bi­ned expo­su­re to mul­ti­ple subs­tan­ces remains within safe limits. The sec­tor already gene­ra­tes exten­si­ve expo­su­re data through the Research Ins­ti­tu­te for Fra­gran­ce Mate­rials and applies the IFRA Stan­dards, giving regu­la­tors a scien­ce-based refe­ren­ce point.

Through posi­tion papers, tech­ni­cal workshops and regu­lar dia­lo­gue with the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion and the Euro­pean Che­mi­cals Agency, IFRA seeks pro­por­tio­na­te rules that pro­tect peo­ple and the envi­ron­ment whi­le allo­wing Europe’s tra­di­tion of scent inno­va­tion to continue.