IFRA provides feedback on revised SSbD framework

Over the summer, the European Commission consulted on a draft revision of the SSbD framework. IFRA welcomed the opportunity to provide feedback through the stakeholder survey, recognizing the significant effort invested in refining this important initiative.

In its submission, IFRA underlined that the SSbD framework should remain a voluntary tool to guide innovation and be workable for complex ingredients like fragrances. IFRA’s feedback highlighted several key points, including on the safety assessment, where a mere classification as Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC) should not automatically be a cut-off criterion and the potential introduction of the Essential Use concept be postponed at least until a commonly agreed definition is available, to avoid uncertainty and ensure consistency. 

On sustainability, IFRA highlighted among other things that the introduction of generic benchmarks to simplify the framework risk lacking the specificity needed for diverse sectors such as fragrance manufacturing.

The final SSbD framework is expected to be published in early 2026. Once finalized, it will serve as a voluntary evaluation tool for new ingredients.

JW