CosIng database: what it is, what it contains, and how to use it to verify cosmetic ingredients

• CosIng (Cosmetic Ingredients) is the European Commission's public consultation tool for cosmetic ingredients, maintained by DG GROW.
• It contains the INCI inventory, substances from Annexes II–VI of Regulation 1223/2009, and SCCS opinions — but it has no legal value: only the Regulation itself and its amendments do.
• The Art. 33 glossary is now governed by Decision (EU) 2025/1175 (16 Jun 2025), with 30,419 entries — a figure many sources have not yet updated.
• Our synchronised database covers the same Annexes: Annex II with 1,758 entries, III with 381, IV with 154, V with 58, and VI with 34.

1. What is CosIng?

CosIng is the European Commission's online consultation tool for cosmetic ingredients. The DG GROW official guide describes it as "the online consultation tool of the European Commission describing cosmetic ingredients contained in: Cosmetics Regulation (EC) No 2009/1223; the Inventory and Common Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients; Opinions of the SCCS."

The word "CosIng" is a descriptive label — Cosmetic Ingredients — not an official acronym. DG GROW (Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs) maintains it, and it has existed since it consolidated data from the original cosmetics directive of 1976.

Three things CosIng does:

1. Centralises the INCI nomenclature of cosmetic ingredients used in the EU.
2. Replicates the content of Annexes II–VI of Regulation (EC) No 2009/1223 and its amendments.
3. Links SCCS (Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety) opinions to the substances they evaluate.

One thing CosIng does not do: tell you which ingredients are "approved." That concept does not exist as such in EU cosmetics regulation. What exists are lists of prohibited substances (Annex II), permitted-with-conditions (Annex III), and positive lists (Annexes IV, V, and VI). The rest of the inventory is not "approved" — it simply has no explicit restrictions in the Regulation.

2. What does CosIng contain?

The database groups four types of content:

Inventory (INCI): the catalogue of ingredients with INCI name, CAS number, EC number, cosmetic function, and in some cases a description or pharmacopoeial name. This inventory incorporated data from Decision 96/335/EC (repealed with effect 8 May 2020).

Regulatory Annexes (II–VI): the lists from Regulation 1223/2009 and its subsequent amendments. Each entry includes the reference number, name, CAS, conditions of use (product type, maximum concentration), and mandatory labelling warnings.

Common ingredient names glossary (Art. 33): the official list of names that the ingredient list must use under Art. 19(1)(g) of the Regulation. If an ingredient has a name in this glossary, that name is what goes on the label — not the IUPAC name, not the trade name.

SCCS opinions: the scientific assessments linked to substances evaluated by the Scientific Committee.

The Annexes in our database (current counts)

The counts below are from our own database, synchronised with CosIng:

For Annexes IV, V, and VI: these are positive lists. If a colorant, preservative, or UV filter is not on its respective list, it cannot be used as such in EU cosmetics.

3. What is the legal value of CosIng?

This is the point that generates the most confusion. The DG GROW official guide is unambiguous:

"Only information provided by Cosmetics Regulation (EC) No 2009/1223, and its amendments, have a legal value. In particular, cross-references between substances (listed in regulations) and ingredients (listed in the inventory) are not binding."

And the Commission's own website adds:

"The inclusion of an ingredient in the CosIng inventory is not an indication of authorisation."

Translated into daily work: that an ingredient appears in the CosIng inventory does not tell you whether you can use it, at what concentration, or under what conditions. For that you need to look at the relevant Annex to Regulation 1223/2009 — or verify it directly in our database.

Decision 2025/1175 and the updated glossary

The Art. 33 glossary — the list of INCI names used on labels — is no longer governed by Decision (EU) 2022/677. It was replaced by Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/1175, adopted on 16 June 2025, published in the Official Journal on 10 July 2025, and applicable from 30 July 2026.

The glossary established by this decision contains 30,419 entries — compared to 30,070 in the previous version (2022/677) and 26,491 in the one before it (2019/701). The primary reference is EUR-Lex: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2025/1175/oj/eng.

The transitional period for adopting the new names runs until 29 July 2026. From 30 July 2026 onwards, the names in the 2025/1175 glossary are the ones required on labels.

4. How to search for an ingredient in CosIng

The interface supports searching by:

• Name: common name, INCI, INN, Ph.Eur., or IUPAC name.
• CAS or EC number: the most precise approach when synonyms or ambiguities exist.
• Scope: Inventory | Prohibited | Restricted | Colorants | Preservatives | UV Filters.
• Status: Active (entries from current regulation) / Not active (historical entries).

A note on typography: the official guide (p.5) explains that ingredients in capital letters belong to the INCI inventory; substances in small letters are entries under the Annexes. This matters when you find the same compound listed in two sections — capitals = inventory with no specific restriction; lowercase = regulated by an Annex.

Two real examples

Example 1 — Butylphenyl Methylpropional (Lilial, CAS 80-54-6): This compound was prohibited in 2022 by Regulation (EU) 2021/1099. Today it appears in Annex II (prohibited substances). If you search CAS 80-54-6 in CosIng with Status=Active, you do not find it in the use inventory — you find it directly in the list of prohibited substances. Before 2022 it was a common fragrance component; today its presence in a formula means non-compliance. To check whether other fragrance components carry similar restrictions, use our CMR page.

Example 2 — Salicylic Acid (CAS 69-72-7): It appears in Annex III as entry III/98 (restricted substance). The restriction varies by product type: different maximum concentrations for hair, facial, and body products, with mandatory labelling warnings when used in products for children. To view the complete entry with all conditions, use our database search.

5. What are the Annexes and what are they for?

The Annexes to Regulation 1223/2009 are the operational core of cosmetic compliance. Annex II lists what you can never use; Annex III lists what you can use with precise conditions of concentration, product type, and labelling warnings. Annexes IV, V, and VI are positive lists: for colorants, preservatives, and UV filters, if an ingredient is not on the list, it cannot be used as such.

For a detailed look at what each Annex covers and what each column in its tables means, we have two dedicated guides:

• EU Cosmetic Regulation Annexes Explained: what each one prohibits, restricts, and permits — the complete map of each Annex with real examples.
• How to Read the CosIng Annexes: a column-by-column guide — a practical tutorial for interpreting a real row, column by column, using salicylic acid (III/98) as the example.

6. How often is CosIng updated?

CosIng does not publish a changelog and has no fixed cycle. Changes happen when the Commission publishes a regulation in the Official Journal that modifies the Annexes. There is variable lag between the official publication and the update appearing in the tool.

For Regulatory Affairs teams this has a concrete implication: monitoring CosIng directly is not enough. The complete guide on this topic explains the mechanisms and the recurring patterns:

How often does CosIng actually change?

7. How to choose a data source

The official CosIng portal delivers the dataset as a manually downloadable .xls file. Beyond a portfolio of 50 active ingredients, keeping that updated and diffed requires in-house engineering. The criteria for evaluating a professional alternative — freshness, incremental diffs, structured format, traceability — are detailed in:

How to choose a CosIng data source: the seven criteria

8. BD-API: the synchronised CosIng database with public search and API

Our CosIng database replicates Annexes II–VI with automatic synchronisation from the official file. When the Commission publishes an update, the synchroniser detects the changes, generates a signed patch, and incorporates it. No manual loading, no update lag.

The public search tool lets you verify any ingredient by INCI name or CAS number without registering. For teams that need to integrate the restrictions into their own systems, the API delivers changes as incremental diffs — not full dumps — from the date the client specifies.

This is also relevant in the context of CMR substances and microplastics restrictions, which have their own pages:

• CMR substances in our database — carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reprotoxic substances under the CLP Regulation, and their treatment in Annex II.
• On the microplastics restriction (Reg. EU 2023/2055): transition timelines and which ingredients it covers are in our microplastics guide.

9. Frequently asked questions

What is CosIng? CosIng (Cosmetic Ingredients) is the European Commission's online consultation tool describing cosmetic ingredients contained in Regulation (EC) No 2009/1223, the Inventory and Common Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients, and SCCS opinions. It is maintained by DG GROW.

Does appearing in CosIng mean an ingredient is approved? No. The inclusion of an ingredient in the CosIng inventory is not an indication of authorisation. Only information provided by Regulation (EC) No 2009/1223 and its amendments has legal value.

How many entries does the CosIng glossary have? The Art. 33 glossary (Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/1175, dated 16 June 2025) contains 30,419 entries. It replaces Decision 2022/677, which had 30,070 entries. The primary reference is EUR-Lex: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2025/1175/oj/eng.

What is the difference between capital letters and small letters in CosIng? Ingredients in capital letters belong to the INCI inventory. Substances in small letters are entries under the Annexes — substances with specific restrictions or prohibitions under Regulation 1223/2009.

How do I search for an ingredient? Search by common name, INCI, INN, Ph.Eur., IUPAC name, or CAS/EC number. Use Scope to filter by category (inventory, prohibited, restricted, colorants, preservatives, UV filters) and Status to filter active vs. historical entries.

How often is CosIng updated? CosIng has no fixed update cycle. It is updated when the Commission publishes a regulation in the Official Journal modifying the Annexes to Regulation 1223/2009. The full guide on update frequency explains the mechanisms.