Recurring mandate
UK Responsible Person services.
Your legally required UK Responsible Person, with SCPN notification through OPSS handled for you.
What the law requires
A UK-based Responsible Person for the British market.
From 1 January 2021 the UK has run its own cosmetics regime, the retained version of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 known as the UK Cosmetics Regulation, enforced through the Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013. Every cosmetic product made available in Great Britain must have a Responsible Person established in the UK, hold a Product Information File, and be notified to the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) through the Submit Cosmetic Product Notification portal, known as SCPN.
An EU Responsible Person does not satisfy this requirement. CPNP and SCPN are separate systems that do not exchange data, so an EU notification does nothing for the British market. If you sell in both the EU and Great Britain you need a Responsible Person for each, and each label carries the address of the Responsible Person for that market.
The UK-established address is a real requirement, not a formality. A PO box or a mail-forwarding address does not qualify. The Responsible Person keeps the Product Information File for 10 years after the last batch was placed on the market, notifies OPSS before the product is made available, and reports serious undesirable effects to the authority.
What the role does
What a Responsible Person is accountable for.
The Responsible Person is the legal point of contact for your products in Great Britain, and the accountability continues for as long as the product is on the market.
Reviewed by Cassandra Maddocks, chemist & biochemist · last reviewed 26 July 2026
The UK Responsible Person is the UK-established role required for every cosmetic sold in Great Britain, named on the GB label and holding the product file. CIG takes the role, files SCPN notifications through the OPSS portal and keeps your dossier aligned with any EU appointment you hold.
Legal basis: legislation.gov.uk: Cosmetic Products Enforcement Regulations 2013, SCPN portal (GOV.UK), GOV.UK guidance.
Holds the Product Information File and keeps it available for OPSS and Trading Standards to inspect.
Confirms the safety report is in place and signed by a qualified assessor before the product is sold.
Notifies each product on SCPN through OPSS before it is made available in Great Britain.
Reviews the label against the UK Cosmetics Regulation, including the Responsible Person address, ingredient list, warnings and batch information.
Reports serious undesirable effects to OPSS and handles correspondence from the authority.
Keeps notifications current when a formulation, label or supplier changes.
Failing to notify OPSS is an offence, and OPSS and Trading Standards can prohibit sales until the product is compliant. Marketplaces enforce the same rule commercially: Amazon, Etsy and Notino now ask for proof of Responsible Person appointment before a cosmetic can be listed, so the mandate is both a legal requirement and a condition of selling.
How CIG covers it
What is included.
One mandate puts a UK Responsible Person in place and keeps your British-market files current.
We act as your UK Responsible Person, giving your products the UK-established point of contact the law requires, with our UK address for your Great Britain labels.
We hold and maintain your Product Information File for the UK market and keep it ready for inspection.
We put your safety report in place. The Cosmetic Product Safety Report is signed by a qualified assessor who holds a university diploma in pharmacy, toxicology, medicine or a related recognised discipline.
We review your Great Britain label against the UK Cosmetics Regulation, including the ingredient list, warnings, batch coding and the Responsible Person address.
We file your SCPN notification through OPSS after your confirmation, and we do not file anything without it.
We handle correspondence from OPSS and Trading Standards and keep your notifications current when a product changes.
The safety report is the part of the file that cannot be shortcut. Only a qualified assessor may sign it, and a report written for another market does not transfer: a US safety report, for example, is not in the format the UK regime accepts and has to be redone. Where you already hold a valid CPSR prepared to the retained Regulation, we can use it; where you do not, we prepare and sign one before notification.
What we need from you
The inputs to get a product notified.
Most delay comes from missing documents, so it helps to know what the file needs from the start. For each product we work from your formulation and packaging. If a document is missing, we tell you what to obtain and from whom, usually your formulator or contract manufacturer.
Where you already have an EU dossier, much of this content can be reused for the UK, since the UK regime is the retained version of the same Regulation. The safety report and the notification still have to be handled through the UK route, but the underlying data rarely needs to be rebuilt from scratch.
How the mandate runs
From onboarding to notified, and then ongoing.
A realistic timeline depends on how complete your documents are. With a ready file the notification step is short; with gaps in the safety data it takes longer.
Onboarding and quote. You tell us your products and markets and we return a fixed quote. Once accepted, we set up the mandate and confirm what documents we hold and what is outstanding.
File review and safety report. We review the formulation and data, and put the CPSR in place, signed by a qualified assessor. This step is quick when a valid report already exists, and longer when a report has to be prepared or supporting tests are still outstanding.
Label check. We review the Great Britain label, including the Responsible Person address, ingredient list, warnings and batch information, and flag anything that needs changing before sale.
SCPN notification. With the file ready and your confirmation, we submit the notification to OPSS through SCPN. Notification is generally quick once the documentation is complete; the time to reach that point is what varies.
Ongoing mandate. We remain your Responsible Person, hold the file, handle authority correspondence, and update your notification when a formulation, supplier or label changes.
Because notification cannot happen until the file is ready, start the mandate before your intended launch rather than at it. Brands that leave the safety report and supporting tests to the last minute miss their launch window, since testing such as stability runs on its own clock, not the notification's.
Edge cases and higher-scope products
Products that need extra handling.
Some products carry additional requirements, and a few are treated as a separate market entirely. We flag these at onboarding so nothing is missed.
Nanomaterials. A product containing nanomaterials carries additional detail in its notification. The presence and specification of any nanomaterial has to be declared, not folded silently into the ordinary framework entry.
Baby, child and higher-risk products. Products for babies and children, and categories such as hair dyes and other higher-risk formulations, need a more detailed safety assessment. The assessor's work is deeper, so these products sit at the upper end of the safety report scope.
CMR substances. Where a formulation contains a substance classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic, the notification has to capture it, and the assessment has to address it.
Who it is for
Brands selling cosmetics in Great Britain.
If you sell, or plan to sell, cosmetics in the British market and you are not established in the UK, the law requires a UK Responsible Person separate from any EU role you hold. This mandate suits brands that want the UK covered correctly, in the same relationship as their other markets.
The requirement is the same whatever your size. There is no small-business exemption and no turnover threshold: a handmade lip balm on Etsy carries the same Responsible Person, Product Information File and notification duties as a mass-market range. Brands that sell through Amazon FBA in the UK need a UK Responsible Person before their listings can go live, since the marketplace asks for proof of appointment.
Pricing
Fixed, transparent pricing.
The EU and UK launch pack covers the safety report, Product Information File and notification for a product. Individual UK deliverables are available too.
Prices in USD, per product unless noted.
See full pricing →Across your markets
How the UK fits with your other markets.
The UK is one of four regimes CIG covers. Selling across borders means meeting each regime on its own terms, held in one relationship.
EU
A separate EU-established Responsible Person and a CPNP notification under Reg. 1223/2009. CPNP and SCPN are independent, so each market is notified on its own.
Switzerland
A responsible person with an address on Swiss territory. An EU or UK address does not cover Switzerland, and the Product Information File is kept for 10 years.
United States
MoCRA facility registration and annual product listing, with a US Agent for a foreign facility. The RP under MoCRA is a different role from the UK one.
A brand that sells into the EU and Great Britain needs a Responsible Person in each, and a label for each market carrying the right address. Holding all four with one partner keeps the files consistent and means one point of contact when a formulation or label changes across markets. See all services →
Switching to CIG
Moving your UK Responsible Person to us.
You are not locked in to your current provider. A new Responsible Person can take over an existing SCPN account and manage future updates, so switching does not mean re-auditing your whole portfolio or losing your notifications.
We review the file you already hold, take over the SCPN records, and update the Responsible Person details so your Great Britain labels and notifications point to us. Where a document is out of date, we tell you before anything is filed. The aim is a clean handover with your products staying on the market throughout. The full sequence is in our UK switching guide.
Where this service fits
The UK Responsible Person in your compliance path.
FAQ
Common questions.
Related
Pairs well with.
Sell in the UK
The full market overview of what the UK requires and how CIG covers it.
UK market →Safety assessment (CPSR)
The mandatory safety report, signed by a qualified assessor.
View service →Notifications
SCPN filing through OPSS, and the other markets' portals.
View service →EU Responsible Person
Cover the European Union in the same relationship.
View service →In practice
Compliance, in the real world.
