IAIN MOORE¹, VINCENZO P.M. RIALDI²
1. EFfCI GMP Working Group Chair
2. EFfCI GMP Working Group Member

Abstract

Cosmetic ingredients are a fundamental link in the cosmetic supply chain, not only with regard to Quality management but also to the safety of the finished cosmetic products.

EFfCI GMP is today the only certifiable Quality Standard for the production and the distribution of cosmetic ingredients, and it will soon include a substantial add-on focused on sustainability with the introduction of the Industrial Ecology principles.

The EFfCI GMP Certification Scheme celebrates 10 years of providing cosmetic ingredient suppliers with GMP Certificates to show the suitability of their materials for use in cosmetics. In those 10 years it has steadily grown from being a “good idea” to becoming an instrumental, effective, and successful part of the assurance of cosmetic ingredient Quality chain. With over 220 certificates it is now also a truly global Standard with certificate holders in more than 30 countries.

The current scheme traced its ancestry to the original EFfCI GMP Guide for cosmetic ingredients which was first published in 2005. This was inspired on the very well-known and adopted IPEC-PQG Good Manufacturing Practice Guide for Pharmaceutical Excipients, as many cosmetic ingredients are used in both sectors. But as a Guide its purpose was purely educational, informing cosmetic ingredient suppliers how to adopt the well-known principles of GMP to their operations. By basing the Guide pharmaceutical GMPs the highest assurance of product Quality was in-built, and one that had as its prime focus on consumer safety. That’s what differentiates it from other guides, the aim is to ...