Cosmetic compliance in Italy starts from the same EU rulebook as every other Member State, but Italy adds more national layers than almost anywhere else in the Union. Alongside Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 you have the Ministry of Health as competent authority, NAS Carabinieri conducting enforcement, mandatory environmental labelling under Legislative Decree 116/2020, CONAI packaging contributions, and — from 27 September 2026 — the toughest reading of the EU’s new anti-greenwashing rules of any major market.
Italy is the largest cosmetics manufacturing country in Europe and a substantial consumer market, so it is rarely optional. This guide covers what changes when you sell there: language rules, the notification chain, environmental labelling on every carton, CONAI registration, and the enforcement bodies that will actually knock on the door.
Key takeaways
- The Ministero della Salute (Ministry of Health) is the competent authority; enforcement is carried out by NAS Carabinieri and local health authorities (ASL).
- All mandatory label information must be in Italian, including function, warnings and precautions.
- Environmental labelling is mandatory on all packaging under Legislative Decree 116/2020 — material identification codes plus consumer sorting instructions on every component.
- CONAI membership and packaging contributions (CAC) are required before placing packaged product on the Italian market.
- Italy transposed the EU anti-greenwashing directive via Legislative Decree No 30 of 20 February 2026, applying from 27 September 2026 — including to existing stock.
- Notification is the standard EU CPNP route; there is no separate Italian product registry.
- Cosmetic manufacturers and packagers in Italy must notify their production site to the Ministry of Health.
The authorities you will deal with
Italy splits cosmetic oversight across more bodies than most Member States, which is worth understanding before an inspection rather than during one.
The Ministero della Salute, specifically the Directorate-General for Medicines and Medical Devices (DGDMF), is the national competent authority for cosmetics. It handles borderline classification questions, receives serious undesirable effect reports, and coordinates national market surveillance.
The NAS Carabinieri — the Comando Carabinieri per la Tutela della Salute — is the specialised health protection police force, and this is the practical difference for brands. NAS conducts unannounced inspections, seizes product, and has powers most national cosmetic regulators do not. NAS operations regularly result in publicised seizures of non-compliant cosmetics, particularly around labelling and unauthorised claims.
Regional ASL (local health authorities) carry out routine inspections of manufacturing and storage sites, and the Agenzia delle Dogane (customs) checks documentation at import. For competition and consumer-facing claims, the AGCM (competition authority) enforces the unfair commercial practices rules — and it is AGCM, not the Ministry of Health, that will pursue a greenwashing case.
Italy also operates a national cosmetovigilance system. Serious undesirable effects must be reported to the Ministry of Health under Article 23 of the Cosmetic Regulation, and Italy expects this via its own reporting channel. Make sure your Responsible Person knows the route before you need it.
Notification: CPNP, plus a site notification if you manufacture
Product notification in Italy is the standard EU route. Before placing a cosmetic on the Italian market, the Responsible Person notifies it through the Cosmetic Products Notification Portal, selecting Italy among the countries of placing on the market so the Italian poison centre receives the frame formulation. There is no additional Italian product register. Our step-by-step CPNP submission guide covers the mechanics.
What is distinctly Italian is the establishment notification. Under Article 8 of Regulation 1223/2009 read with Italian implementing law (Legislative Decree 204/2015), anyone manufacturing or packaging cosmetic products in Italy must notify the production establishment to the Ministry of Health and the region, and must comply with GMP to ISO 22716. If you contract-manufacture in Italy — very common, given the density of the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna cosmetics cluster — confirm your manufacturer has done this.
Language and labelling
Article 19 of the Cosmetic Regulation leaves language to the Member State, and Italy requires Italian for the elements that matter to the consumer.
| Label element | Language in Italy |
|---|---|
| Product function | Italian required (unless obvious from presentation) |
| Precautions and warnings | Italian required |
| Directions for use | Italian required |
| Ingredient list (INCI) | INCI nomenclature — not translated |
| Nominal content | Figures plus metric units |
| Date of minimum durability / PAO | Symbol-based; any accompanying text in Italian |
| RP name and address | As registered — no translation needed |
| Batch number | As assigned |
| Country of origin | Required for products imported from outside the EU |
| Environmental / sorting information | Italian required |
Multilingual packaging is entirely acceptable and standard practice for brands covering Italy, Spain and France on one carton — Italian simply has to be among the languages present. The general EU labelling requirements are covered in our INCI list preparation guide.
Environmental labelling: the requirement brands miss
This is the single most common compliance gap for non-Italian brands entering the market, because it has no equivalent in most other Member States.
Legislative Decree 116/2020, which transposed the EU waste directives, makes environmental labelling mandatory on all packaging placed on the Italian market — including cosmetics. Every packaging component must carry:
- The material identification code from Commission Decision 97/129/EC — for example PET 1 for a PET bottle, PP 5 for a polypropylene cap, PAP 21 for a paperboard carton, GL 70 for clear glass, ALU 41 for aluminium.
- For packaging destined for household consumers, sorting instructions in Italian — typically indicating the collection stream (raccolta carta, raccolta plastica, raccolta vetro) and the instruction to check local rules (Verifica le disposizioni del tuo Comune).
- An instruction to separate components where the pack is multi-material (Separa le componenti prima del conferimento).
Where the physical pack is too small for the full information — very common in cosmetics — the sorting instructions may be provided through a digital channel such as a QR code or a dedicated page on your website, provided the material codes remain on the pack itself.
If you already produce artwork for France, do not assume Triman covers you. The French Triman and Info-Tri system and the Italian environmental labelling requirement are different schemes with different graphics, different wording and different legal bases. A pack sold in both markets needs both. Fortunately, they are usually accommodated in the same panel.
CONAI and packaging contributions
Separately from the labelling obligation, Italy operates extended producer responsibility for packaging through CONAI (Consorzio Nazionale Imballaggi). If you place packaged product on the Italian market, you generally need to:
- Join CONAI (or an authorised alternative scheme).
- Declare packaging placed on the market by material and weight.
- Pay the CAC (Contributo Ambientale CONAI), the environmental contribution, at rates that vary by material and — for plastics and paper — by recyclability tier.
Who carries the obligation depends on the supply chain: for imported finished product, it typically falls on the first party placing it on the Italian market. Foreign brands selling direct to Italian consumers should establish clearly whether they, their distributor or their fulfilment partner is the obligated party, and get it in the contract. This obligation is separate from your cosmetic compliance file and is not discharged by your Responsible Person.
The 27 September 2026 green claims change
Italy transposed Directive (EU) 2024/825 — the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive — through Legislative Decree No 30 of 20 February 2026, applying from 27 September 2026.
From that date, environmental claims on cosmetics sold in Italy must be clear, specific, verifiable and supported by adequate evidence. Generic claims such as “eco-friendly” or “green” are prohibited without recognised excellent environmental performance; product-level carbon neutrality claims based on offsetting are banned; and self-created sustainability labels not backed by a certification scheme are prohibited.
Italian guidance has been explicit on the point that most concerns brands: the new provisions apply to existing stock — goods already manufactured, ordered, distributed or sitting on shelves. There is currently no grandfathering. Enforcement sits with AGCM, which has an established record of pursuing green claims in consumer goods.
Because this stacks on top of Legislative Decree 116/2020, a cosmetic carton sold in Italy from late September must satisfy both: correct material codes and sorting instructions, and no unsubstantiated environmental wording anywhere on the pack or in the listing. Our guide to avoiding misleading green claims sets out the full requirements and a remediation plan.
The practical scheduling advice: if you are reprinting Italian artwork anyway to add environmental labelling, do the green-claims edit in the same round, and fold in the expanded fragrance allergen declarations if they affect your formulas. Three artwork cycles for three obligations is money you do not need to spend.
Your Italian compliance file
Nothing in Italian law replaces the EU documentation set; it adds to it. Before your first shipment you should have:
- A CPSR signed by a qualified safety assessor — see how to get a CPSR.
- A complete PIF, accessible at the RP’s EU address and available to the Ministry of Health on request.
- CPNP notification with Italy selected.
- An EU Responsible Person established in the Union, named on the pack.
- Italian-language artwork including environmental labelling.
- CONAI registration and declarations.
- Claim substantiation filed in the PIF, green claims included.
The PIF may be held anywhere in the EU — it does not need to sit in Italy — but it must be produced promptly and in a language the authority can readily understand. In practice, Italian authorities accept English scientific documentation but expect the summary layer and label-related sections to be intelligible to an Italian inspector.
Bringing it all together
Italy is not a difficult market once you know where the extra layers are. The cosmetic file is the ordinary EU one. What catches brands out is everything sitting alongside it: an Italian-language pack, material codes and sorting instructions on every component, CONAI membership and contributions, an establishment notification if you manufacture locally, and from 27 September 2026 a strict reading of the green claims rules applied even to stock already in the channel.
Treat the artwork as the critical path. Almost every Italian-specific obligation lands on the packaging, which is the slowest thing to change and the most expensive to get wrong. Get the label right before the first print run and Italy becomes a straightforward market with a very large consumer base.
Lexora acts as EU Responsible Person and prepares full compliance files for brands entering Italy and the wider EU. Explore the Full Compliance Pack for the whole documentation set, or have your Italian artwork checked with a cosmetic label review before you go to print.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a separate Italian notification as well as CPNP?
No. CPNP notification with Italy selected as a country of placing on the market is sufficient for the product itself — there is no additional Italian product registry. However, if you manufacture or package cosmetics in Italy, the production establishment must be notified separately to the Ministry of Health and the region.
Does my label have to be in Italian?
Yes for the consumer-facing mandatory elements: function, precautions and warnings, directions for use, and environmental sorting information. The INCI ingredient list stays in INCI nomenclature and is not translated. Multilingual packaging is fine as long as Italian is present.
What is the CONAI contribution and do I have to pay it?
The CAC (Contributo Ambientale CONAI) is Italy’s extended producer responsibility fee for packaging, charged per tonne by material with rates varying by recyclability. If you place packaged cosmetics on the Italian market you generally need to join CONAI, declare your packaging and pay the contribution. For imported finished goods the obligation usually falls on the first party placing them on the market, so agree in writing whether that is you or your distributor.
What exactly must the environmental labelling say?
Each packaging component needs the material identification code from Decision 97/129/EC (for example PET 1, PP 5, PAP 21) and, for household packaging, sorting instructions in Italian plus a prompt to check municipal rules. Multi-material packs need an instruction to separate components. Where the pack is too small, sorting instructions can be provided digitally via QR code, but the material codes stay on the pack.
Who enforces cosmetic rules in Italy?
The Ministry of Health is the competent authority, with market surveillance carried out by the NAS Carabinieri (the health protection police) and regional ASL health authorities. Customs checks import documentation. Misleading environmental or commercial claims are pursued separately by AGCM, the competition and consumer authority.
Do the new green claims rules apply to stock already in Italy?
Yes. Italian guidance on Legislative Decree No 30/2026 confirms that from 27 September 2026 the provisions apply to goods already manufactured, ordered, distributed or on shelves. There is currently no grandfathering clause, so existing stock with non-compliant environmental claims needs to be addressed. See our guide to the new green claims rules.
Can my Responsible Person be based outside Italy?
Yes. The Responsible Person must be established in the European Union, but not specifically in Italy. One EU-based RP covers all Member States, and the PIF can be held at that RP’s address anywhere in the Union — it must simply be made available promptly when an Italian authority asks for it.
