IFRA - what it means to you
Posted by andrew sanderson on
As a manufacturer its your responsibility to ensure you are making a product in line with current guidance and legislation in the country you are making in but also in accordance with regulations of each country you sell to. REACH regulations are still applicable to the UK as even though we have left the EU, we are still in Europe. There are a few minor changes which apply to the UK.
Its wise to check the SDS (safety data sheet), CLP (classification, labelling & packaging) and IFRA (International Fragrance Association) certificate documents each time you purchase a fragrance oil. Your oil supplier may have changed manufacturer (we won’t have) or the formulation may have changed.
IFRA’s mission is to promote the safe use of fragrance ingredients and mixtures across a number of different applications.
There are currently two versions of IFRA in use, IFRA 48 and IFRA 49. All new formulations must comply to IFRA 49 and all existing formulations must comply to IFRA 49 by 10th May 2022.
The IFRA certificate is split into categories depending how the fragrance will be used eg, skin contact or airborne. These categories differ between amendment 48 and 49.
Before purchasing a fragrance oil you need to check which IFRA certificate version you are reading and check that the fragrance oil can be used at a high enough concentration for your intended purpose. The amount of fragrance oil that can be used for a particular application (eg reed diffuser or room spray) may be reduced from amendment 48 to 49. For this reason some formulations are being changed by the manufacturers.
All of the IFRA certificates on our website are amendment 49.