To sell professional cosmetics made in Spain in another European Union country you do not need to register them again: the notification the manufacturer files on the EU's CPNP portal covers the whole single market. Your part is to check labelling and language, and to notify only if you translate the label on your own initiative.
Do You Have to Register the Product Again in Your Country?
No. Before a cosmetic is sold in the EU, the product's responsible person notifies it on the CPNP, the European Commission's notification portal, and that notification is a single one. As the Commission explains on its CPNP page, once a product has been notified in the CPNP, there is no need for any further notification at national level within the EU.
For a distributor in another Member State, that changes the start-up timetable. There is no country-by-country health registration and no customs between Member States: a product leaving Tudela reaches your warehouse with the same legal status it had in Spain, and you can sell it as soon as the label meets your country's rules.
Who Answers for the Product and What the Distributor Does
The central figure of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products is the responsible person. For a product made in the EU, that is the manufacturer established in the EU, which answers for safety, the product information file and the notification.
The distributor has a different role, which Article 6 sums up as acting with due care:
| Who | What falls to them |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer (responsible person) | Safety, product file and CPNP notification |
| Distributor | Check labelling, language and durability date |
| Distributor | Store and transport without affecting conformity |
| Distributor who translates on its own | Submit its own notification |
The distributor only becomes the responsible person if it sells the product under its own name or brand, or modifies it in a way that may affect compliance. Article 4 makes clear that translating the information of a product already on the market does not count as such a modification, so translating does not make you answerable for the product file.
Which Language Must the Label Be In?
The one your country requires. Article 19 leaves the labelling language to the law of the Member State where the product reaches the end user, and that covers the precautions for use, the product's function and the information that accompanies the packaging. The ingredient list is the exception: it uses the common names of the European glossary, the same in every country.
In practice there are two routes. Either the manufacturer supplies the product already labelled in your language, or you translate it yourself with additional labels. The first saves you paperwork; the second gives you the flexibility to sell items the manufacturer has not yet adapted to your market, at the cost of a notification of your own.
When Does the Distributor Have to Notify?
When you do the translating. It is the distributor's only notification duty of its own on the CPNP, and it sits in Article 13 of the regulation:
As from 11 July 2013, a distributor who makes available in a Member State a cosmetic product already placed on the market in another Member State and translates, on his own initiative, any element of the labelling of that product in order to comply with national law, shall submit, by electronic means, the following information to the Commission.
The information it asks for is brief:
- Product
- category and name in each country
- Country
- the Member State where it is sold
- Distributor
- your name and address
- Responsible person
- name and address of the file
The key lies in the words on his own initiative. If the manufacturer prepares the labelling in your language, you do not notify; if you prepare it, you do. That is why it should be settled before signing, not with the first shipment already in the warehouse.
What to Ask the Manufacturer Before the First Order
Three questions settle almost everything: which items it has notified on the CPNP, which languages its labelling already covers and who will prepare any missing labels. Yanguas Professional formulates and manufactures in Tudela (Navarre), with ISO 9001 certification and production under ISO 22716, notifies its products on the CPNP and coordinates with its distributors in other markets the labelling, registrations and technical documentation each country requires.
If your market is outside the EU, the question changes: the CPNP does not apply there, and what you need are certificates of free sale and the documentation for registration at destination, which Yanguas issues for its importers. Exclusivity by country is agreed by contract, with territory and targets.
Before the first shipment, ask for the list of notified items and tick the ones that already carry your language: those that do not are the ones that will decide whether you notify. Take that ticked list to the conversation about distributing Yanguas Professional in your country and start the catalogue with the items that already arrive labelled in your language.
