International Fragrance Association revises fragrance standards

Switzerland-based official representative body of the fragrance industry worldwide, International Fragrance Association (IFRA), has officially notified the 47th Amendment to the IFRA Code of Practice as part of the industry’s ongoing safety programme.

The fragrance industry’s safety programme has been set up to assess fragrance materials and either establishing Safe Use Levels, or prohibiting their use, based on studying their potential effects on people and the environment.

IFRA has announced six new updates to the IFRA Code of Practice based on the Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) methodology.

Of the six standards, four are revised Standards, one is a new Standard that limits the use of Furfural, a new Group Standard that prohibits the use of 2,4-Dienals and 11 revised Standards which take into account the contributions of Schiff Bases.

Lastly, one Standard has a corrected maximum use level.

One of the six new Standards is a result of the the availability of new data that supports the safe use of Dihyrocoumarin.

IFRA will now allow the restricted use of the material, which was earlier prohibited.

The Standards are now made up of 102 IFRA Standards restricting the use of ingredients; 80 IFRA Standards prohibiting the use of ingredients; and 20 IFRA Standards setting a purity requirement.

All the companies that belong to IFRA directly or IFRA member associations are compelled to comply with the IFRA Code of Practice.

The Code of Practice applies to the manufacture and handling of all fragrance materials, for all types of applications and contains the full set of IFRA Standards.

The IFRA Code of Practice is distributed worldwide and is in the hands of all member associations and their member companies, in addition to governmental regulatory bodies and interested stakeholders.