Zurich, Switzerland – As the cosmetic industry evolves, retailers across Europe and Canada are facing a compliance deadline that will reshape ingredient transparency and supply chain accountability. On April 12, 2026, Canada will enforce phase one of the updated INCI Glossary under Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2025/1175, while the expanded fragrance allergen disclosure rules under Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 will also come into effect. These changes, alongside Canada’s phased implementation under SOR/2024-63, mark a turning point for ingredient transparency and supply chain accountability.
The new regulations focus on informational safety rather than just the safety of ingredients. The premise of Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 is that the newly listed 56 allergens are not unsafe for the general population, but they pose a specific risk to sensitized individuals who have a “right to know”. This shift places the responsibility of full ingredient disclosure on manufacturers. It is no longer enough for a product to be safe; its safety profile must be fully transparent, legible, and accurate down to the level of trace isomers in a complex essential oil blend.
The new regulations will be enforced on specific dates, with key deadlines including April 12, 2026, for phase one of the allergen disclosure in Canada, July 30, 2026, for INCI Glossary enforcement in the EU, and July 31, 2026, for the disclosure of 81 allergens in the EU. Additionally, all legacy products with old labels must be off EU shelves by this date. Canada will also enforce phase two for newly introduced products on August 1, 2026, and all Canadian cosmetic products must have full compliance by this date.
The implementation of these regulations will have operational implications for beauty retailers, specialty stores, and department stores. They are being urged to audit their inventories, enforce brand partner compliance, and establish centralized ingredient governance protocols. In order to comply, brands must provide updated ingredient lists in official INCI format, and retailers must request allergen disclosures based on the new 81-substance list, flag and aggregate allergens correctly, and continuously update and verify ingredient data at the point of sale.
In order to avoid manual overload and regulatory exposure, automated systems are now essential. Inference Beauty offers a solution with their Transparency Features, including the INCI Explainer. This platform streamlines INCI compliance across complex inventories, including 147,166 unique products, 2,647 brands, and 110+ product categories spanning skincare, color cosmetics, body care, and fragrance. It also includes 60,000+ ingredients classified in official INCI format and 100+ attributes per ingredient, such as source, utility, and claims like vegan and Microplastic-Free.
The benefits for retailers include complying with Canadian and EU law, reducing in-house regulatory workload, minimizing customer service queries related to allergens and ingredients, centralizing brand onboarding with structured data controls, and avoiding customer migration to third-party databases by offering transparent data in-platform.
According to Estella Benz, CEO of Inference Beauty, “2026 will be remembered as the year ingredient transparency stopped being optional. This is a decisive moment for the industry—and a huge opportunity for retailers to lead with clarity and trust. At Inference Beauty, we’ve spent years building the infrastructure to make ingredient data actionable, compliant, and customer-ready at scale. With the Ingredient Explainer, we’re not just helping our partners meet the new laws—we’re helping them build a smarter, more transparent beauty future.”
