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Perfume safety, IFRA, allergens and labelling: the short answers

By Omer Siton, founder of PerfuMate · Updated

Three sets of rules matter for a perfume you sell: IFRA's limits on how much of each material it may contain, the fragrance allergen labelling of the EU and the countries that follow it, and the cosmetics labelling law of each market. Each question below gets its short answer and a link to the page that works it through. None of it is legal advice: in the EU and the UK a qualified safety assessor must assess a perfume before it is sold, and a regulatory consultant answers for your own case.

What is IFRA, and which IFRA category applies to perfume?

IFRA is the International Fragrance Association, the fragrance industry's own standards body, and its Standards cap or prohibit individual materials, category by category of finished product. A perfume worn on skin, with or without alcohol, is Category 4, fine fragrance; a lotion, a candle or a soap sits in another category with other limits. The Standards are voluntary, compulsory for IFRA's members and no substitute for national law. IFRA for perfumers explains the limits, and IFRA categories explained covers the other categories.

What changed between IFRA amendments 49, 50 and 51?

The 49th Amendment, notified on 10 January 2020, rebuilt the method behind the limits and introduced a new product categorisation; the 50th, on 30 June 2021, only prohibited one material, Mintlactone; the 51st, notified on 30 June 2023, added 48 new standards and revised 11. Since 30 October 2025 every 51st Amendment standard applies to existing fragrances as well as new ones, and on 31 August 2026 IFRA said it expects to notify the 52nd in January 2027. The three amendments, with their dates.

Which perfume ingredients are toxic?

Whether a material does harm depends on the dose and on how it meets the body, so the rules work by limits rather than by a list of poisons. IFRA's 51st Amendment prohibits 81 materials in fine fragrance and caps many more, EU cosmetics law bans some materials outright, such as Lilial and Lyral, and a supplier's safety data sheet states the hazards of each neat material for handling; the finished perfume is judged by the IFRA check and, before an EU or UK sale, by a qualified safety assessor. See which perfume ingredients are banned, which are phototoxic and why a perfume can irritate skin.

Are aroma chemicals like Iso E Super and Ambroxan safe to use?

Within their limits, yes: neither is banned. Iso E Super, the molecule OTNE, may make up at most 20 percent of a finished fine fragrance under the 51st Amendment and is a declarable EU allergen, while no IFRA Category 4 limit reaches Ambroxan. Handle the neat materials as the supplier's safety data sheet says. Aroma chemicals vs essential oils has the detail, and the Iso E Super limit shows what 20 percent means at your strength.

Are fragrance oils safe for skin?

Only a fragrance oil made for skin, used within the maximum its maker certifies. Ask for its IFRA certificate of conformity and check that it covers Category 4, fine fragrance, and states how much of the oil the finished perfume may contain: in the supplier certificates for trade blends and named grades held in PerfuMate's data, that maximum runs from 0.0428 percent of the finished perfume to no limit at all. Many fragrance oils are made for candles or soap, which sit in other categories. See fragrance oils for perfume and the IFRA certificate, explained.

Is dipropylene glycol (DPG) safe?

As used in cosmetics, yes, on the published assessment: the US Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel concluded in 1985 that dipropylene glycol is safe as presently used in cosmetics, and no IFRA standard applies to it. Buy a fragrance-grade, low-odour DPG, keep its safety data sheet, and count it as an ingredient of the finished product like any other. See DPG in perfume and the Dipropylene glycol catalog page.

Is perfumer's alcohol safe?

Safe to handle with care, and never to drink: it is ethanol of about 95 percent strength, usually denatured so that it cannot be drunk, and ethanol's flash point is 13 °C (55 °F). Keep it away from flames and sparks, work in a ventilated room and store it sealed, upright and out of reach of children. What alcohol to use for perfume covers grades and handling.

What are fragrance allergens, and which must be listed?

Fragrance allergens are fragrance substances that have clearly caused contact allergy in people, and in the EU those named in Annex III of the Cosmetics Regulation must be listed on the label once they exceed 0.001 percent of a leave-on product such as a perfume. Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 lengthened the list with more single chemicals and named natural oils, and a perfume first placed on the EU market after 31 July 2026 must carry the expanded declaration. As of 6 October 2026, Great Britain still applies its own, shorter list. How to make an EU allergen declaration.

Where can I find the full EU fragrance allergen list (the '82 allergens')?

In the regulation itself: Annex III of Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 as amended by Regulation (EU) 2023/1545, free on EUR-Lex. Totals quoted online depend on how grouped entries are counted; the regulation speaks of 24 allergens labelled individually before it and 56 more identified by the EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety, and Health Canada, which aligns its list with the EU's, counts 81. PerfuMate's allergen index shows the allergens its catalog materials carry, not the whole annex. The official text: Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 on EUR-Lex.

How do you calculate fragrance allergens for a label?

Multiply three shares and add the results across the formula: the allergen inside each material, the material inside the concentrate, and the concentrate inside the bottle. Lavender Essential Oil typically carries about 0.3 percent coumarin; at 5 percent of a concentrate bottled at 18 percent that is 0.0027 percent of the perfume, over the 0.001 percent line, so Coumarin goes on the label. The free IFRA calculator writes this declaration for a whole formula, and the declaration page works an example.

What are the EU and FDA rules for fragrance allergens?

The EU names each listed allergen above 0.001 percent of a leave-on product; the US has no allergen labelling rule yet, so a US label may still declare the whole blend as "fragrance". The 2022 MoCRA law requires the FDA to set fragrance allergen labelling by regulation, but no proposed rule had appeared in the Federal Register by 6 October 2026. Canada requires 24 fragrance allergens on labels from 12 April 2026, and 81 for new cosmetics from 1 August 2026 and for existing ones by 1 August 2028. The rules, market by market.

What does "contains fragrance allergens" mean on a label?

It means that the substances named are on the regulatory allergen list and are present above the labelling threshold, 0.001 percent of a perfume in the EU. They are named so that people already allergic to one of them can avoid it, which is the reason the EU gives for the rule; they do not mean the product is unsafe, and a substance below the threshold is not named at all. What the declaration is, and how it is made.

How do I design and label my perfume, and what must the label include?

An EU label carries the responsible person's name and address, the nominal content, a durability indication such as a period-after-opening mark, any precautions, a batch number, the ingredient list (Alcohol Denat., Parfum, then each allergen over the threshold) and, for an imported product, the country of origin; a US label carries the product's identity, the net quantity, the name and place of business, the ingredients with "fragrance" for the blend, and a contact for adverse-event reports. Design around those lines at a legible size, and test the printed label against the perfume before a run. How to label a perfume for sale.

Which sources is this page based on?

The official texts and the PerfuMate data below, each with the date it was read.