The Commission Regulation (EU) No 655/2013 of 10 July 2013 laying down common criteria for the justification of claims used in relation to cosmetic products was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (L 190/31) on 11th July 2013. Based on Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on cosmetic products ('CPR'), the Commission established some common criteria in order to assess whether or not the use of a claim is justified. The common criteria apply to all the products which fall within the definition of a cosmetic product under Article 2 of the CPR. The common criteria are used to justify the claims used in relation to cosmetic products but they are not aimed at defining and specifying the wording that can be used for such claims. They apply to all cosmetic claims (i.e. primary and secondary claims), to all the forms of advertising (e.g. texts, names, trademarks, pictures, images etc.) and to all means of communication (i.e. product labels, TV, printed matter, internet etc.) The Regulation applied from 11th July 2013, but reasonably it does not have any potential negative effect because it lays down some dispositions which were already set out in the Cosmetic Directive, in Directive 2005/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices and in Directive 2006/114/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 concerning misleading and comparative advertising. The six common criteria laid down in the Regulation are the following: • legal compliance • truthfulness • evidential support • honesty • fairness • informed decision making More details are available in the Guidelines published on the Commission website (http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/sectors/cosmetics/regulatory-framework/index_en.htm): ‘Guidelines to Commission Regulation (EU) No. 655/2013 laying down common criteria for the justification of claims used in relation to cosmetics products.’ The Guidelines are divided into two Annexes: • Annex I provides a detailed description of the six common criteria, including illustrative and non-exhaustive examples of claims. • Annex II provides for best practices specifically related to the evidential support used for the justification of cosmetic claims, to experimental studies (in vitro and in vivo) and to consumer perception tests. Best regards, BIO BASIC EUROPE s.r.l. Managing Director Dr. Umberto Pianca Technical Manager Safety Assessor Claudio Angelinetta research@biobasiceurope.it Department Responsible EFFICACY TESTS Antonella Pratic̣ documentation@biobasiceurope.it Assistant of the Department EFFICACY TESTS Silvia Busoli Badiale doc@biobasiceurope.it