Constituent Update

April 24, 2019

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is conducting a survey to better understand the current manufacturing practices used in the cosmetics industry. This study will also provide information on the current manufacturing practices used to support product quality and safety and the costs associated with implementing these practices. The Office of Management and Budget approved this survey following its announcement in the Federal Register in July 2018 pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act.

The FDA has randomly selected approximately 900 manufacturing establishments to be invited to participate in the survey. The agency has contracted with RTI International to conduct this nationwide survey. RTI will report only unidentified individual responses of this survey to the FDA. They will perform data masking techniques so that individual survey respondents cannot be identified. When completed, the FDA will make survey results available to the public.

This survey is part of the FDA’s ongoing effort to add to our understanding of the cosmetic industry and manufacturing practices. As with other commodities the FDA regulates, the safety of cosmetic products can be ensured in part through a manufacturer’s approach to the management of cosmetic quality. To date, the FDA has not identified in the published literature any systematic, detailed study that could enlighten the FDA on the diversity of practices and standards employed across the cosmetic industry.