Importing Cosmetics to the UK: Regulations, Labelling and Customs Clearance

Importing cosmetics into Great Britain involves two separate processes: product compliance (who is responsible for the product and whether it is properly notified and labelled) and customs clearance (commodity code, value, documents). Mixing the two stages is the most common source of delays. For wider context see our article on international trade documentation.

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Product compliance: what must be ready

• Responsible Person (RP): every cosmetic product made available to consumers in Great Britain needs an RP. This can be the manufacturer, the importer or an appointed company, but it must have a UK established address — mail forwarding and PO box addresses do not count.
• Product notification: before the product is made available, the RP notifies it to OPSS through the Submit cosmetic product notifications (SCPN) service.
• Product Information File (PIF): kept in English, including a safety report prepared by a qualified safety assessor, and retained for 10 years after the last batch is made available.
• Label: among other things the RP's name and address, country of origin for imports, weight or volume, date of minimum durability, precautions, batch number, function and ingredients.
• Ingredients: CMR substances are banned, and preservatives, UV filters and colourants must appear on the lists in the regulation's annexes.

Northern Ireland follows different rules: there the Responsible Person must be established in NI or the EU. Source: gov.uk — Making cosmetic products available to consumers in Great Britain.

Customs clearance: what to prepare

• EORI number: you generally need an EORI number to move goods between Great Britain and the EU; check which number applies to you (see how to get an EORI number in the UK).
• Commodity code: correct classification of every product — our HS code guide and the gov.uk tool Finding commodity codes will help.
• Declaration data: including the customs procedure code, commodity code, consignor and consignee, description, quantity and packaging, transport costs, currency and valuation method (gov.uk — Making a full import declaration).
• Commercial and transport documents: the invoice, packing list and transport documents must match the data in the declaration.

The most common problems

• an incomplete product description on the invoice, so the right commodity code cannot be chosen,
• no Responsible Person in the UK, or no OPSS notification before sale,
• discrepancies between the invoice, packing list and declaration,
• no single checklist shared by the sales and logistics teams.

If the data in the documents differs, hold the declaration and reconcile the source documents — it is easier to do so before clearance than after the consignment is held. We describe the whole process in customs clearance when importing goods into the UK, step by step. You will also find a practical PL–UK checklist in the easyclearance.pl guide.

Need support?

If you want to organise your documents and data for cosmetics before shipping, get in touch and describe your planned movement of goods. For our scope and how we quote see how much UK customs clearance costs.

Frequently asked questions