IFRA Notifies 51st Amendment to the IFRA Standards

By Percefoni Doufou-Shafiq, PhD, senior regulatory specialist, Supply Chain team, UL Solutions 

On June 30, 2023, the International Fragrance Association (IFRA), which represents the interests of the fragrance industry and promotes the safe use of fragrance products, notified its 51st Amendment to the IFRA Standards. The amendment includes an updated guidance document for the use of the IFRA Standards, additional new Standards, several revised Standards and an Annex on contributions from other sources to the IFRA Standards.  

The amendment removes the presence of chemical structures and empirical formulas, and this information no longer appears across the Standards. In addition, the reference to Annex I (presence of restricted ingredients in Natural Complex Substances (NCS)) or Annex II (contributions from Schiff bases), which was included in previous versions, is now removed and this information is combined in one single Annex – Contributions from other sources.

The changes to the guidance for the use of the IFRA Standards include several clarifications regarding paper products with respect to calculations of fragrance ingredient concentration either in finished products (e.g. baby diapers liners, tampons, wet toilet paper, etc.) or on the lotion/formulation carrier that is then added to the finished product (e.g. baby wipes, cleaning wipes). Additional clarifications are provided for some product categories, including fabric softener/dryer sheets, dry-cleaning kits, pillow sprays, reed diffusers, make-up remover, aftershave and others with respect to use.

With regards to the Standards, there are seven revised Standards and introduction of more than 40 new Standards based on research done by the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) and the Expert Panel. The new Standards in the 51st Amendment incorporate restrictions/prohibitions based on either skin sensitization and/or systemic toxicity, depigmentation and potential genotoxicity effects.

The implementation time frame of the changes applies differently to new creations and existing creations. New creations are those fragrance mixtures for which the brief has been issued after the completion of the information exchange period within the supply chain (update of IT systems and exchange of information on NCS and bases). Existing compounds are those currently sold or already being evaluated for performance in a defined finished product. The implementation time frames are as follows:

• For new creations, the IFRA Standards prohibiting use of an ingredient apply from Aug. 30, 2023, whereas for ingredients with restrictions and specifications apply from March 30, 2024. 
• For existing creations, the IFRA Standards prohibiting use of an ingredient apply from July 30, 2024, whereas for ingredients with restrictions and specifications apply from Oct. 30, 2025.

The above dates apply for the supply of fragrance mixtures and not the finished consumer products in the marketplace. For any Standard that has only had a format change, the above dates are not applicable (no grace period)

UL Solution’s ChemADVISOR™ Regulatory Database is being updated to reflect the changes.

Resources

International Fragrance Association (IFRA)
IFRA 51st Amendment