ISO standard roundup so far in 2012....
UVA protection
Earlier this month, the ISO launched a new standard to identify UVA protection levels said to help laboratories and the cosmetics industry to measure the performance of sunscreen products.
ISO 24443:2012 was developed by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 217, and gives specifications for an in vitro procedure to characterize the UVA protection of sunscreen products in accordance with a methodology defined in the standard.
The standard gives specifications to enable the determination of the spectral absorbance characteristics of UVA protection in a reproducible manner to help manufacturers and testing laboratories.
When first created, sunscreens were only designed to filter out UVB, as the dangers represented by UVA were then unknown. Today, sun protection products must span the entire UV spectrum.
Then Pr. Philippe Masson, Chair of the ISO group of experts that developed the standards, said; “This standard will be an important tool in improving the quality and safety of sunscreen products and facilitating their global trade. It will also help manufacturers to better respond to local requirements for sunscreen products and give better information to consumers.”
Evaluating antimicrobial protection
In July, the technical committee introduced a standard to help evaluate the antimicrobial protection of cosmetics to ensure that products are safe.
According to the Switzerland-based organisation, the new standard, ISO 11930:2012, Cosmetics – Microbiology – Evaluation of the antimicrobial protection of a cosmetic product, helps to test their effectiveness in safeguarding consumers.
The ways highlighted in the standard to protect cosmetics are chemical preservation, inherent characteristics of the formulation, package design and the manufacturing process.
Andrée Cremieux, project leader of ISO 11930 then explained that the new standard outlines a procedure for evaluating the overall preservation of a cosmetic product including a preservation efficacy test, as well as evaluation criteria.
ISO pharma standard awarded to cosmetics supplier
Back in March, Glass bottle manufacturer Gerresheimer revealed it had met the high standards of an ISO certification usually reserved for pharmaceutical products for the glass packaging it supplies to the cosmetics industry.
The company’s plant was recently certified as compliant with the ISO 22716 Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standard, for both its exemplary processing and sustainable production for cosmetics glass at the factility.
This ISO standard was derived form the GMP 15378 standard for pharma production, but has also been issued in respect to glass packaging for luxury cosmetic products such as perfumes and creams.
