Cosmetics packaging and compliant labelling

The label — Regulation (EC) 1223/2009, Article 19

What the label
must carry.

Answer four questions about your product and we will show you what European law requires on the label — and where. Click a number on the label for the explanation.

Product type
Pack size
Shelf life
Where you will sell
YOUR BRANDMoisturising face cream650 ml℮2INGREDIENTS/INCIAqua, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol,Butyrospermum Parkii Butter,Tocopherol, Parfum, Linalool*,Geraniol*, Citric Acid (*allergen)7WARNINGSFor external use only.Avoid contact with the eyes.4RESPONSIBLE PERSONYour Brand Ltd.Ulica 1, 1000 Ljubljana, SI112M3LOT 2026-0145
01
Name and address of the responsible person
The company answerable for the product within the EU. If it is your brand that places the product on the market, that is you — and the address has to be given in full.

Packaging is often the customer's decisive and most attractive reason to buy, which makes its appearance worth the trouble.

Order a label design→
What has to be on the primary pack? — Articles 19(2) and 19(3)

What may sit on an enclosed leaflet or carton
and what always on the primary pack?

A small pack often cannot carry everything. The legislation takes account of that, but for two items only. Everything else has to stay on the primary pack, however little room there seems to be.

Pack size
Kind of product
A leaflet is often needed

It depends on how long the list of ingredients runs. Short formulations still fit on the pack; longer ones — especially those with fragrance allergens — as a rule do not.

Must stay on the pack
  • Name and address of the responsible person
  • Nominal content
  • Shelf life or open-jar symbol
  • Batch number
  • Product function
These cannot be moved onto a leaflet or onto the outer packaging; they have to stay on the primary pack, whatever the size of that pack.
May go on an enclosed leaflet
  • Precautionary warnings
  • List of ingredients (Ingredients/INCI)
If you move them, the pack has to carry the hand-and-book symbol, which tells the user that the details are to be looked for on the enclosed material.If you move them, the pack has to carry the hand-and-book symbol, which tells the user that the details are to be looked for on the enclosed material.

Bottles, jars, pumps — the possibilities are endless.

Order a label design→
Preparing for print

What does the print file
have to look like?

The printer needs a file that follows precise rules, and those rules are what the graphic designer has to work to while preparing the packaging design.

Bleed +3 mmTrim lineSafe area −3 mm

The background has to reach the outer frame, and the text must never cross the inner one. Between them runs the line along which the label is actually cut.

Label sizeFor cylindrical packaging
Circumference
157.1 mm
Label (width × height)
147.1 × 90.0 mm

10 mm comes off the circumference so the label does not overlap itself, and 5 mm off the top and 5 mm off the bottom of the height so that it does not run over the edges. Where the pack is rounded, enter as the height only the straight part of the wall, not the whole height of the container.

File format
PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-4The standards for print exchange. PDF/X-4 permits transparency and ICC profiles; PDF/X-1a converts everything to CMYK.
Colour space
CMYK (not RGB)Give special colours as Pantone references with their exact names. Total ink coverage is usually held to 300 %.
Resolution
300 dpi at final size1200 dpi for line art and for text inside an image. Enlarging a raster image after placing it does not help.
Bleed
3 mm on every sideThe background has to run past the trim line, or a white edge shows wherever the machine drifts.
Safe area
3 mm inwardsKeep text and logo at least that far from the edge, so the cut cannot catch them.
Cut line (dieline)
A separate spot colour, overprintingNamed “CutContour” or similar, marked as non-printing, on its own layer — not as an ordinary black line.
Fonts
Embedded or converted to outlinesIf a font is not embedded, the printer substitutes it and the layout falls apart.
Thinnest rule
0.25 pt (~0.1 mm)Finer lines can disappear in print, particularly when reversed out.
Text size
legible; in practice ≥ 1 mm is a mustThe Regulation prescribes no size, but it does require indelible, easily legible and visible lettering (Article 19(5)). In practice the list of ingredients is the smallest element, and it still has to read normally.
White
never overprintingWhite text has to knock out of whatever lies beneath it, or it simply disappears in print.