Welcome to the Detergents Home Page

This page provides guidance and information on the UK implementation of Regulation European Community (EC) No 648/2004, which came into force on 8 October 2005.

Regulation 648/2004 on Detergents

As a Regulation (as opposed to a Directive) 648/2004 is “directly applicable” and applies throughout the European Union on its own, without the further need for domestic United Kingdom (UK) legislation.

However, domestic legislation will be made setting out the process for handling derogation applications and to provide for enforcement measures - including criminal penalties for breach of Regulation 648/2004.

The Detergents Regulations 2005 have been introduced setting out measures to enforce Regulation 648/2004.  They came into force on 8 October 2005.

Regulations setting out the procedure for handling derogation applications will be introduced in 2006 following a round of public consultation carried out between November 2005 and  February 2006.

Purpose and scope of the Regulation

Regulation 648/2004 updates and consolidates existing Directives on detergents.  The objectives of the Regulation are:

• To improve the free movement of detergents in the Internal Market;
• To modernise the existing detergents regime;
• To improve environmental protection and
• To provide more specific information to consumers on the contents of detergents.

The regulations impose:

• A more stringent two-tier testing regime on the biodegradability of the active ingredients of detergents (known as surfactants).
• A wider scope than existing legislation, with all surfactants now being covered. Previously, two categories of surfactant (around 10% of the total) were outside the scope of European Community (EC) legislation.
• More stringent labelling requirements on detergent manufacturers. Existing voluntary agreements in the UK mean that most household detergents already comply with new labelling requirements to list product ingredients.
• Manufacturers are also required to make ingredients datasheets available to medical personnel on request, to help with the treatment of allergies and manufacturers of domestic detergents must make available a less detailed version of the data sheet to the general public on a website.