AICIS Requirements

What are my obligations?

Registration

You must register your business with us before you import or manufacture (‘introduce’) industrial chemicals — or products that release industrial chemicals — for commercial purposes. You must register regardless of how much cosmetics you sell. There is no threshold limit.

Registration applies even if another business is already importing the same (or similar) chemicals.

Learn more about registration and who must register.

Categorisation

Every relevant industrial chemical in the personal care, skin care, make-up and cosmetic products that you want to introduce must be authorised under 1 of our 5 main categories:

• Listed (on our Inventory)
• Exempted
• Reported
• Assessed
• Commercial Evaluation Authorisation

Your obligations for each category will depend on the level of risk to human health and the environment from your introduction.

We don’t generally regulate the chemical ingredients of articles unless the article is designed to release the chemical. 

Reporting

If you’re introducing personal care, skin care, make-up and cosmetic products containing ingredients that are authorised under our exempted category ('very low risk' to human health and the environment), you must submit a once-off exempted introduction declaration after you import or manufacture them. This obligation is separate to your annual declaration obligations.

Learn more about exempted introduction declarations.

If you’re introducing personal care, skin care, make-up and cosmetic products that are authorised under our reported category ('low risk' to human health and the environment), you must submit a once-off pre-introduction report before you import or manufacture them. This obligation is separate to your annual declaration obligations.

Learn more about pre-introduction reports. 

Record keeping

You must keep certain records about your chemical introductions to confirm they comply with our laws. You must keep these records for 5 years, even after you’ve stopped introducing your chemical.

Learn more about your reporting and record-keeping obligations.

Annual declarations

Regardless of the introduction category, you must submit an annual declaration at the end of every registration year. This is a declaration you make about the industrial chemicals you imported or manufactured in the previous registration year and confirms that your introductions were authorised under our laws.

Other government standards

If your introduction is for an end use in cosmetics or consumer goods, you must ensure that it complies with other government standards including those established by:

• The Poisons Standard
• The Mandatory Standard for Labelling Cosmetics
• The National Measurement Institute
• Safe Work Australia - Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) information sheet

Does your product include a flavour or fragrance chemical?

Personal care, skin care, make-up, and cosmetic products often include flavour and fragrance chemicals and blends. If the chemical identity of these ingredients are protected as a trade secret, you can choose to introduce them using the ‘reported introduction — low-risk flavour or fragrance blend’ pathway — without going through the process of working out the highest indicative risk. However, they must meet the requirements of this category.

If you use this pathway, you will need to nominate a chemical data provider who can provide information about the chemicals.

Learn more about categorisation of flavour and fragrance blends.

Use of animal test data

The ban on the use of new animal test data for ingredients solely used in cosmetics started on 1 July 2020. There are also restrictions on using new animal test data for chemicals with multiple end uses (including in cosmetics). If the chemical ingredients you want to introduce have an end-use in cosmetics (or multiple end uses that include cosmetics), you must confirm that you have complied with the rules on using animal test data to categorise your introduction.

You do this when you either:

• submit an exempted introduction declaration (if relevant)
• submit a pre-introduction report (if relevant)
• 
  

Learn more about the rules on using animal test data