Badger and Hone - No more ?

bigduncan said:
i think if you read it properly the retailer only has to hold the the info on whats in it , who made it and which lab tested it ,also what batch numbers he holds and finaly were it was made, he does NO testing himself
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I don't really want to get into an argument about this. I'm not trying to have a go at B & H or anything which is why I did not mention anything whilst they were trading. But now that they are not trading I don't see any harm in explaining to people that this was illegal and that it is very unlikely that anyone else will pick up this product line.

I can assure you that I have read the legislation properly as I had to go through this entire process when I started to stock Mama Bears soaps. As a retailer of a non-certified product you need to obtain the testing and certification for yourself. Who did you think was doing the testing in this case?

bigduncan said:
now thats a inflammatory statement
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Yes it is and quite undeserved in my opinion.
 
TS: I can see where you're coming from, I know anything like this needs the proper testing etc to satisfy the governing agencies... not sure why a couple of members are having a hard time seeing that. My wife used to work in the testing business certifying exactly this kind of product and they were usually existing (and already tested) products from big companies. It all needs clearing for the UK market.

Don't take it personally.
 
Boab said:
is this valid only on import items?
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I'm not an expert by any means but the wife tells me that any commercil cosmetic product on sale in the UK has to hold a safety licence for that purpose, whether made here, or imported from elsewhere.
Maybe Blighty and Sharon might have some experience of this, as I say, it's just my understanding. Maybe cottage industries are exempt? Dunno.
 
Boab said:
is this valid only on import items?
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Any 'cosmetic' product sold within the EU needs to be certified. This applies to all products no matter who the supplier is or how big a company they are. Obviously the large brands such as TOBS etc do this themselves so that retailers do not need to deal with this.

But it only applies to products sold within the EU. This means that it is perfectly ok to buy non-certified items directly from the US supplier with no risk to either the customer or the seller.

So it does not apply to products that you import yourselves. But it does apply to retailers who import products to sell on.
 
So...

i. Company A can buy a truck load of soap from Supplier A who is in the E.U. and does their own certification. Company A can then sell these products to the public.

i(a). Supplier A can sell direct to the public, as they have certification.

ii. Company A can buy a truck load of soap from Supplier B who is in the E.U. but does not do their own certification. Company A is required by law to carry out certification before selling to the public.

ii(a). Supplier B require certification if they wish to sell direct to the public.

iii. Company A can buy a truck load of soap from Supplier C who is the U.S.A. with no certification. Company A is required by law to carry out certification before selling to the public.

What about the cottage industry people making products in their sheds and selling them on forums or eBay and the like, are they bound by the same rules?
 
What about the cottage industry people making products in their sheds and selling them on forums or eBay and the like, are they bound by the same rules?
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Edited to say: Yes, it would appear that any cottage industry making cosmetic products do require certification from a cosmetic chemist. Apparently it costs about £80-200 for a single certification so it might put a retailer off Ogalalla. Depends on the numbers of sales and the profit margin I suppose.

Home office official line: (VERY heavy reading!)
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008/1284/contents/made">http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008 ... tents/made</a><!-- m -->
 
you can always give the product away for free and charge a rather large processing and postage fee
or even charge for the container
 
Canuck said:
What about the cottage industry people making products in their sheds and selling them on forums or eBay and the like, are they bound by the same rules?
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Edited to say: Yes, it would appear that any cottage industry making cosmetic products do require certification from a cosmetic chemist. Apparently it costs about £80-200 for a single certification so it might put a retailer off Ogalalla. Depends on the numbers of sales and the profit margin I suppose.

Home office official line: (VERY heavy reading!)
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008">http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2008</a><!-- m --> ... tents/made
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Yes that is my understanding as well. Everyone needs certification - no matter how small a company you are.

You are correct that certification for most products (including shaving soap and shaving cream) is in the region of £100 - £200 so it isn't too expensive. You can get a single certification that covers all fragrances of a product (so one certificate for 10x different shaving cream fragrances) for a little bit more. However, aftershaves and colognes are much more complicated. Because these are "stay on the skin" products they require much more detailed testing. I've been told this is thousands rather than hundreds of pounds.
 
I always kinda felt that TS were carrying Mama Bear more as a favour to customers than in the hope of making millions off Sue's soaps.
Thanks guys.

JohnnyO. \ :cool:
 
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