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 is necessary to implement a ban on inorganic phosphates in domestic laundry cleaning products (DLCPs), setting out the process for handling derogation applications and to provide for enforcement measures - including criminal penalties for breach of Regulation 648/2004.

Detergents Regulations 2010 SI 740 (pdf, 15 pages) to replace the Detergents Regulations 2005 came into force on 6 April 2010.

From 1 January 2015 inorganic phosphates in domestic laundry cleaning products (DLCPs) will be banned. Regulations setting out the procedure for handling derogation applications are also introduced in this legislation.

Purpose and scope of the regulation

From 1 January 2015 it will be an offence to market a DLCP containing more than 0.4% of its weight of inorganic phosphate.

Implementation has been delayed to give the detergents industry time to switch to detergents which meet the new requirements and change marketing and packaging.