Nowadays, cosmetics are an indispensable part of our lives, so their safety is of paramount importance. It is regulated by Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 on cosmetic products, which states that all cosmetic products must be safe for human health under normal and reasonably foreseeable conditions of use. In order to effectively control the European market, the RAPEX (Rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products) information system was set up in 2004 to ensure that Member States can quickly and efficiently inform each other about products on the market that pose a serious risk to the health and safety of consumers - including cosmetic products. The MSc thesis reviews the cosmetic products notified to RAPEX on the basis of serious chemical risk over the time period 2018-2022. A serious risk is defined as a risk that requires rapid intervention by the competent authorities, even when the effects of the risk are not immediate. 450 such cosmetic products were notified to RAPEX and classified into groups according to their intended use. The substances responsible for the non-compliance have been evaluated against the currently applicable Regulation (EC) 1223/2009. The five-year period covers the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact of which has been shown to be significant, with a drop in the number of product notifications of more than 50% compared to the pre-pandemic average. Sweden has notified the highest number of products to the Rapid Alert System. Germany, which has the largest cosmetics market in Europe, ranked 4th in the number of notifications. By origin, most products are of unknown origin. This was followed by China, which, according to these data, is still not complying with European rules on consumer product safety, despite the efforts of the European authorities. Asia was also the source of the highest number of non-compliant cosmetic products, accounting for 35.6%, followed by Europe with 31.6%. Skin lighteners, perfumes, and body creams, gels and lotions accounted for a good half of all non-compliant cosmetic products reported. These groups are analysed in more detail in the thesis. The substances responsible for the non-compliance of skin lightening products were most frequently hydroquinone, mercury and clobetasol propionate. For perfumes, with the exception of methanol in one product, the fragrance concentrations were exceeded. 58.3% of the non-compliant body creams, gels and lotions contained an exceeded concentration of a mixture of preservatives methylisothiazolinone and methylchloroisothiazolinone. Overall, 72.2% of the products in this group were non-compliant due to an excess concentration of preservatives.
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