CBD Briefing: UK & EU Cosmetics Regulations Report
Announcing our latest online report:
CBD Cosmetics Labelling and Marketing Guidance
CBD has caught the eye of the beauty industry and entered the mainstream. Enticing brands from the high-end to the high-street, analysts at the financial firm Jefferies predict that the CBD beauty market will grow to comprise 15 percent of the $167 billion global skincare market within a decade. While part of this growth will be driven by global hype and curiosity for the cannabis plant, consumers are increasingly turning to CBD as a functional ingredient in cosmetics - with 64% of beauty consumers agreeing that CBD beauty is “more than just a fad”, according to beauty research company Poshly. To date CBD has been incorporated across a range of skincare and makeup products for its purported hydrating and antioxidant properties, while research is ongoing into its possible use in medicinal products to treat skin conditions that include eczema, acne and psoriasis.
The promise of this growing sector has attracted retailers and brands alike, with Sephora launching a specially curated in-store section entirely dedicated to CBD and the high-street cosmetics brand Revolution boasting a CBD skincare range of serums and facial oils. Concurrently, key players in the cannabis industry are pivoting into beauty products - the Canadian cannabis conglomerate Canopy Growth acquired the British beauty and wellness brand This Works in May 2019. Yet while plant power is a hot trend right now, lingering uncertainty about the use of CBD in cosmetics means that several leading cosmetic brands - including Estée Lauder and L’Oréal - have stopped short of releasing their own CBD products, opting instead for product lines including less-controversial hemp seed oil. These large companies, while potential partners for brands already in operation, will be cautious to only engage with companies that are completely compliant with regulations.
Misinformation and uncertainty are abundant in the CBD industry, and the cosmetics segment is no exception. EU cosmetic companies aren’t required to specify the precise amount of CBD in their products, and this information is frequently omitted from labels and packaging. This prevents users from making informed comparisons between products, and makes it harder for consumers to know the optimal amount of a cosmetic to use. Unclear ingredient listing can also spark confusion and distrust amongst consumers - with CBD and hemp seed oil often conflated by unclear marketing. Even though it isn’t a regulatory requirement, companies looking to offer CBD cosmetics should consider adopting transparent and precise labelling to gain the trust of consumers and help them make informed purchasing decisions.
CBD topicals and other cosmetics are an attractive entry point for cannabis-curious consumers, and are an appealing way for CBD brands to diversify their product offering. In the EU, cosmetics products have the added advantage of avoiding the complications of the Novel Food Regulations that have stunted growth and innovation of CBD ingestibles. That doesn’t make beauty products a free-for-all, however, and it is crucial that companies looking to enter this space know how to market their products in a compliant fashion and how to avoid falling under the remit of medical product regulations by making over-zealous claims.
Although compliance attention so far has tended to focus on CBD food and drink, CBD cosmetics brands are at risk of sanctions ranging from unlimited fines and even prison time to product seizures and recalls for making unsubstantiated and non-compliant claims. Brands in the UK are also at risk of being challenged and penalised by the Advertising Standards Agency if their claims are unqualified, misleading to consumers, or imply medicinal or health properties. For example, claims that a cosmetic can “heal” the skin or has pain-relieving properties can lead it to being classified as a medicine by the MHRA and liable for enforcement action taken against it.
CBD cosmetic manufacturers and retailers should also be aware of the safest type of CBD and hemp extracts to use in products. Although it is up to individual member states to decide themselves, the European Commission believes that the EU’s harmonised Cosmetic Regulations prohibit the use of CBD derived from the flowers or ‘fruiting tops’ of hemp plants, regardless of the extract’s THC content or whether the CBD was legally extracted. Whilst the UK is yet to clarify its position on CBD as a cosmetic ingredient, it is safest for cosmetics brands to use synthetically-derived sources of CBD or extracts from other parts of hemp such as seeds and leaves. This position may, however, shift with time: Brexit presents an opportunity for the UK to adopt a UK-specific regulatory framework for CBD cosmetics and other products, while recommendations made by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to ensure that low-THC CBD extracts are not considered narcotics would, if approved by the UN, pave the way for the widespread use of hemp flower-derived CBD in a range of cosmetic products across the UK and EU.