CPSR explained: the Cosmetic Product Safety Report every EU brand needs

The Cosmetic Product Safety Report sits at the heart of the Product Information File, and it is the document that most often becomes a bottleneck. It is technical, it must be done by a qualified assessor, and it depends entirely on the quality of the data you feed it. Understanding what it needs makes the whole process faster.

What the CPSR is

The Cosmetic Product Safety Report (CPSR) is the formal safety assessment required for every cosmetic product under Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009. It demonstrates that the product, used normally and under reasonably foreseeable conditions, is safe for human health.

It is a mandatory part of the Product Information File. No CPSR, no compliant product.

The two parts of a CPSR

The regulation structures the CPSR into two parts, and the distinction matters.

Part A — the safety information. This is the data-gathering half: the qualitative and quantitative composition, the physical and chemical characteristics, microbiological quality, information on impurities and packaging, normal and foreseeable use, exposure to the product and to its substances, the toxicological profile of the substances, undesirable effects, and any other relevant information.

Part B — the safety assessment. This is the reasoning half: the assessment conclusion, any labeled warnings and instructions, the reasoning behind the conclusion, and the credentials of the assessor.

Part A is the evidence; Part B is the qualified judgement built on that evidence.

Who can produce it

Part B must be carried out by a safety assessor with appropriate qualifications — the regulation requires specific professional credentials. This is not something a brand can self-certify; it requires a qualified person to take responsibility for the assessment.

That makes the assessor's time a real cost and a real constraint. Anything that makes their job faster and their input cleaner pays off directly.

Why data quality is everything

Here is the practical insight most brands learn the hard way: the assessor can only work as fast as the data allows. Part A is fundamentally a data exercise — exact composition, concentrations, the function of each ingredient, impurity information, intended use.

If that data is incomplete, inconsistent, or scattered across spreadsheets and emails, the assessment stalls. The assessor has to chase missing figures, resolve contradictions, and wait for clarifications. A CPSR that should take a reasonable amount of time stretches out because the underlying data was not in order.

Conversely, when the formula data is complete and structured — every ingredient identified, every concentration exact, functions and properties recorded — the assessor can move straight to the assessment.

How structured formula data helps

Much of Part A is information a manufacturer already holds, or should: the precise composition, the concentration of each ingredient, the role each plays. The problem is usually that it is not organised in one place in a usable form.

When the formula is maintained as structured data — not a static document but a live record of exactly what is in the product and at what level — the Part A inputs can be assembled directly from it. The assessor receives clean, current data instead of a pile of attachments.

The takeaway

The CPSR is the mandatory, two-part safety assessment behind every EU cosmetic, and Part B must be signed by a qualified assessor. The single biggest lever on how fast and smoothly it gets done is the quality of the composition data behind it. Manufacturers who keep their formula data structured and current hand their assessor a head start — and get to market faster.

Lemoniq keeps your exact formula composition structured and current, so the safety data your assessor needs can be pulled straight from the product — not chased across spreadsheets. See how it works