(1)

Under Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, the EU Ecolabel may be awarded to those products with a reduced environmental impact during their entire life cycle.

(2)

Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 provides that specific EU Ecolabel criteria are to be established according to product groups.

(3)

Commission Decision 2014/893/EU (2) established EU Ecolabel criteria and related assessment and verification requirements for the product group ‘rinse-off cosmetics’. The period of validity of those criteria and requirements has been extended to 31 December 2021 by Commission Decision (EU) 2018/1590 (3).

(4)

In order to better reflect best practice in the market for this product group and to take account of innovations introduced in the intervening period, it is appropriate to establish a new set of criteria for ‘rinse-off cosmetics’.

(5)

The EU Ecolabel Fitness check Report (4) of 30 June 2017, reviewing the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 66/2010, concluded on the need to develop a more strategic approach for the EU Ecolabel, also including the bundling of closely related product groups where appropriate.

(6)

In line with those conclusions, it is appropriate to revise the criteria for the product group ‘rinse-off cosmetics’, including the expansion of its scope to other cosmetic products covered by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 (5) and to animal care products. In order to reflect that expansion of its scope it is also appropriate to modify the product group name to ‘Cosmetic products and animal care products’ subsuming cosmetic products manufactured for human and animal use.

(7)

The New Circular Economy Action Plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe (6) adopted on 11 March 2020 stipulates that the durability, recyclability and recycled content requirements will be more systematically included in the EU Ecolabel criteria.

(8)

The revised EU Ecolabel criteria for cosmetic products and animal care products should aim, in particular, at promoting products that have limited impacts in terms of eco-toxicity and biodegradability, which may only contain a limited amount of hazardous substances and that use less packaging, which can be easily recycled. The use of recycled material and refillable packaging should be promoted. In the revision, appropriate attention should be paid to the coherence between relevant EU policies, legislation and scientific evidence.

(9)

The new criteria and related assessment and verification requirements for the product group should remain valid until 31 December 2027, taking into account the innovation cycle for that product group.

(10)

For reasons of legal certainty, Decision 2014/893/EU should be repealed.

(11)

A transitional period should be allowed for producers whose products have been awarded the EU Ecolabel for rinse-off cosmetics on the basis of the criteria set out in Decision 2014/893/EU, so that they have sufficient time to adapt their products to comply with the new criteria and requirements. For a limited period after adoption of this Decision, producers should also be allowed to submit applications based either on the criteria established by Decision 2014/893/EU or on the new criteria stablished by this Decision. EU Ecolabel licences awarded in accordance with the criteria set out in Decision 2014/893/EU should be allowed to be used for twelve months from the date of adoption of this Decision.

(12)

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 16 of Regulation (EC) No 66/2010,