PerfuMate › Learn › Can I sell homemade perfume, and what rules apply?

我可以销售自制香水吗？适用哪些规则？

作者：Omer Siton，PerfuMate 创始人 · 更新于

Yes in the EU, the UK and the US, but a perfume sold to the public is a cosmetic, and the cosmetics law of every market you sell into applies to it, whether it was made in a factory or a kitchen. In the EU and the UK that means a named responsible person, a safety assessment by a qualified assessor, a notification and a compliant label before the first sale. In the US it means a safe, properly labelled product, a contact for adverse-event reports and, above a sales threshold, registration with the FDA. None of these markets issues a perfume licence, but alcohol, shipping and trademarks bring rules of their own. This page is orientation, read from the official sources listed at the end; it is not legal advice, and a regulatory consultant or a safety assessor answers for your own case.

Can I sell homemade perfume legally, and do I need a licence?

Yes, you can: EU and UK cosmetics law and US federal law set no special licence for it; what you need is a product that meets the cosmetics rules of the market where it is sold.

In the US, the FDA says plainly that it is not against the law to make cosmetics at home and that it does not license cosmetics firms. Cosmetics and their ingredients, other than colour additives, need no FDA approval before they go on sale, so the answer to "do I need FDA approval to sell perfume?" is no; the maker is legally responsible for the product's safety and its labelling. The FDA also points to state and local authorities, which can have requirements of their own. Claims matter: a fragrance sold to make you more attractive is a cosmetic, while one sold with aromatherapy claims, such as helping you sleep, is a drug in the FDA's eyes.

In the EU and the UK there is no licence either, but the duties come before the first sale: a responsible person, a safety assessment and its report, a product information file and a notification, set out below. Register the business itself as your country requires, as for any trade; in the US the Small Business Administration explains how, and in the UK GOV.UK does.

How are perfumes regulated in the EU, the UK and the US, and where does IFRA fit?

As cosmetics, under a different law in each market, with IFRA's Standards on top as the fragrance industry's own voluntary rules. What each market asks before the first sale:

MarketWho answers for the productBefore the first saleLabel specifics
European Union (Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009)A responsible person, a person or company established in the EUA safety assessment by a qualified person, written up as the cosmetic product safety report; a product information file, kept for ten years after the last batch is placed on the market; a notification on the CPNP, which is freeName and address of the responsible person, nominal content, durability or period after opening, precautions, batch number, and ingredients with "parfum" and each listed allergen over 0.001 percent
Great BritainA Responsible Person with a UK addressA safety assessment by a qualified safety assessor, a product information file, and a notification through the government's SCPN service before the product is made availableIn English, with the Responsible Person's UK address; allergens from GB's own list, which as of 6 October 2026 lacks the entries the EU added in 2023
Northern IrelandA Responsible Person in Northern Ireland or the EUThe EU rules, with notification on the CPNPAs in the EU
United States (FD&C Act as amended by MoCRA)The manufacturer, packer or distributor named on the labelNo approval. Records that substantiate safety; serious adverse events reported to the FDA within 15 business days; facility registration and product listing, with no fee, unless the business is small: under 1,000,000 dollars of average yearly US cosmetics sales over three years, adjusted for inflationProduct identity, net quantity, name and place of business, ingredients with "fragrance" for the blend, and a US address, US phone number or electronic contact for adverse-event reports

The US small-business exemption covers registration, listing and the coming manufacturing-practice rules; the FDA lists no exemption from labelling, safety substantiation or adverse-event reporting. A perfume is not among the products that lose the exemption whatever their sales: those that regularly touch the eye's mucous membrane, are injected, are taken internally, or change the appearance for more than 24 hours.

IFRA sits beside the law, not inside it. Its Standards are voluntary, compulsory for its members, who account for around 80 percent of the global fragrance industry by production volume, and they do not replace national law. IFRA certifies nothing: a certificate of conformity is written by the company that makes a fragrance mixture, and it does not replace a safety assessment. IFRA for perfumers explains the limits, and the free IFRA calculator checks a formula against Category 4.

Elsewhere, the rules differ. Canada, for example, asks manufacturers and importers to notify Health Canada within 10 days after they first sell a cosmetic there. For any other country, find its cosmetics regulator before you ship, or work with a consultant who knows that market.

Do I need an alcohol permit to make or sell perfume?

It depends on the country and on the alcohol: in the US, buying and using specially denatured alcohol needs a permit from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), and in the UK, receiving and using the denatured alcohol approved for perfumes needs authorisation from HMRC.

United States. Under 27 CFR 20.41, a person who wants to withdraw and use specially denatured spirits must apply on Form 5150.22 and obtain a permit before starting business, and TTB's guide for applicants (TTB P 5150.3, dated November 2004) names perfumes among the articles made with them. Among the formulas TTB authorises for perfumes, colognes and toilet waters under its general-use rules (27 CFR 20.119) is SDA 40-B. The same guide separates users, who buy the alcohol itself to make products and need the permit, from bottlers and reprocessors, who buy products that already contain it and need no permit unless they recover the alcohol, though TTB can ask some of them to describe their activities and can stop one it sees as a risk to revenue or safety. Which side you are on depends on what your supplier sells you; TTB's National Revenue Center answers on 1-877-882-3277.

United Kingdom. HMRC's Excise Notice 473 approves trade specific denatured alcohol (TSDA) formulations for perfumery: formulation 1, 99.9 percent ethanol with 0.1 percent tertiary butyl alcohol and denatonium benzoate, for skin preparations including perfumes, and formulation 5, 95 percent ethanol with 5 percent benzyl benzoate, for perfumes and toiletries. You apply to HMRC for authorisation to receive and use it, and give your supplier a copy before delivery.

Elsewhere, denatured alcohol is a matter for the customs or excise authority; ask it before you buy in quantity. Where to buy perfume materials covers what to ask a supplier.

How do I ship perfume?

As the flammable liquid it is. By US mail it travels within the US by ground only, at most 16 ounces per package, sealed, cushioned and marked as a limited quantity, and it may not be mailed abroad or to military or diplomatic addresses.

The reason is the alcohol. USPS treats a liquid with a flash point up to 60 °C (140 °F) as flammable, and ethanol's flash point is 13 °C (55 °F); its hazardous materials table lists "Perfumery products with flammable solvents", UN1266, as prohibited by air and mailable by ground under its Packaging Instruction 3A. In practice:

With a courier, the US hazardous materials rules apply: perfume with a flammable solvent is UN1266, Class 3, packing group II or III, and as a limited quantity it can travel in inner bottles of up to 1 litre (packing group II) in packages of up to 30 kg gross, with extra conditions by air. Air transport anywhere follows the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations. Ask your carrier before the first parcel whether and how it accepts limited-quantity flammable liquids from you; outside the US, read your postal service's or courier's own page on perfume.

A carrier may ask for a safety data sheet: section 9 gives the flash point and section 14 the transport classification. PerfuMate's safety data sheet draft estimates both from the carrier solvent rather than measuring them, says so on its face, and needs sign-off by someone competent in chemical classification before anything ships on it.

Which trademark class covers a perfume brand?

Class 3 of the Nice Classification, the international classification of goods and services for trademarks, which covers non-medicated cosmetics and toiletry preparations and perfumes.

Search before you file and before you print: the USPTO's Trademark Search covers US marks, and WIPO's Global Brand Database searches international registrations and the marks of participating national offices. Offices charge per class: a US base application costs 350 dollars per class since 18 January 2025, and GOV.UK puts a UK registration at 205 pounds or more. A registered mark protects the name for the goods in its class; it does not protect the formula, and it does not let you use another brand's names, as can I recreate a perfume explains. Choosing the name is covered in how to start a perfume business.

Can you patent or copyright a perfume formula?

In practice a perfume formula is protected by keeping it secret. A patent requires an invention that is new and not obvious, gives the right to stop others from making and selling it rather than a right to secrecy, and is published: the USPTO publishes most applications 18 months after filing and every granted patent on the day it issues. Copyright protects original works of authorship, such as your label artwork, photographs and written descriptions, but the US Copyright Office says a mere listing of ingredients is not protected, and a formula is a list of ingredients and amounts.

Secrecy is also how US labelling treats fragrance: a label may say "fragrance" instead of naming the materials because, the FDA explains, fragrance formulas are the cosmetic components most likely to be trade secrets. Share a formula with as few people as possible, put confidentiality in writing with anyone who weighs, tests or assesses it, and keep dated records of your versions, which also show what you made and when.

PerfuMate keeps the compliance working on each formula: the IFRA check at the strength you set, the EU allergen declaration and the INCI ingredient line, free; a 16-section safety data sheet draft with a free account; and bottle labels on a paid plan. It does not notify the CPNP or the SCPN, keep a product information file or replace a safety assessor. Start a formula, free.

Which sources is this page based on?

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