CosIng ingredient database: document review
Document review
Sources viewed on 4 October 2026. CosIng overview date not stated; Regulation 1223/2009 adopted 30 November 2009, original text used for document structure.
CosIng is the European Commission’s information database for cosmetic ingredients. Its official overview is useful for identifying names and source references, but explicitly has no legal value. This document review explains how to read that distinction, without claiming to test the search engine or approve a formulation. [1]
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Which information does the overview promise?
The overview links cosmetic legislation, common ingredient names for labelling and published SCCS opinions. It says CAS, ELINCS and EINECS numbers can be searched. These identifiers help distinguish records when everyday names differ. A useful search record preserves the exact identifier and record URL, rather than only a loosely translated ingredient name. [1]
CosIng includes information dating from the Cosmetics Directive’s adoption in 1976. The page describes current data as active and historical data as not active. Those are record-status labels. In this review we have read the documentation, not compared live individual search results or checked the identity of a supplied chemical. [1]
Why an inventory entry is not a legal permission
The Important notice expressly says that an INCI name in the inventory does not mean approval for cosmetic use. It identifies Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 and its Annexes as the source of whether and under which conditions a substance may be used. Contextual information in the database is not itself a regulatory decision. [1]
Article 14 of the Regulation distinguishes Annex II prohibited substances, Annex III restrictions, Annex IV colorants, Annex V preservatives and Annex VI UV filters. We use the official original text to explain that structure, not to establish the current permission for a named ingredient; individual entries can be amended and need their current legal text. [2]
Ingredient identity and product safety are different files
The Commission’s overview says ingredient use must be supported by a product safety assessment. Article 10 of the Regulation describes a safety assessment and cosmetic product safety report before market placement. Article 11 separately identifies a product information file containing, among other things, that report and justified evidence for claimed effects. [1][2]
The practical reading distinction is therefore between a substance record and a finished-product dossier. A database match can answer “which name or identifier?”, while the legal entry addresses conditions and the product assessment addresses the formula. None of these questions is answered by saving an INCI search result alone.
A useful evidence trail, without an approval claim
For documentary research, our record would keep the label name, exact identifier, active/historical status, database link, applicable legal provision and source-check date in separate fields. This is a way to preserve what each document actually supports; it is not a declaration that the ingredient or finished product has passed a regulatory assessment.
The overview gives no publication or update date. We identify the original 2009 Regulation separately and do not turn it into a current consolidated Annex listing. No particular search, formula, safety report or product dossier was validated by NailWiki in this review. [1][2]
Article Sources
- European Commission — Cosmetic ingredient database
Primary source
Overview and search-description passages: common ingredient names, CAS/ELINCS/EINECS identifiers, records since 1976 and active versus historical entries. Important notice: the database is informative and non-binding; inclusion is not ingredient-use approval. Overview reviewed, without testing the search engine or individual records.
- European Union — Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of 30 November 2009 on cosmetic products — original text
Regulatory source
Original Regulation 1223/2009: Articles 10 (safety assessment), 11 (product information file and claimed-effect evidence), 14 (Annex II–VI structure); not a current permission check for an individual ingredient.
Adopted:
Written and reviewed with AI assistance using the linked sources. No hands-on product testing or independent specialist review was performed.
