If you have a fragrance allergy, this is the biggest labelling improvement since 2005 — and it lands on July 31, 2026.

What the rule says

Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/1545 expands the list of fragrance allergens that must be spelled out in a product's ingredient list — when present above 0.001% in leave-on products or 0.01% in rinse-off — from the familiar "26 allergens" era to roughly 80 declarable entries. Products placed on the EU market from July 31, 2026 must comply; stock already in the channel can be sold through until July 31, 2028.

What's newly declarable

The additions include everyday substances most shoppers wouldn't clock as allergens:

  • Simple compounds: camphor, menthol, vanillin, benzaldehyde, terpineol, pinene
  • Whole botanical oils and extracts: lavandin, ylang-ylang, lemongrass, jasmine, sandalwood, rose oil, clove, bergamot, patchouli
  • Long-time restricted substances whose labelling duty is new, like Balsam of Peru and methyl salicylate

We measured the impact across the AllerNote catalog: in our analysis of 4,400+ products, about one in five products already lists a declarable allergen by name — and most fragranced products still list only the umbrella word "Parfum", which is exactly what changes. Expect ingredient lists, especially on body lotions and perfumes, to visibly lengthen through 2026–2028.

What it means for you

  • Your patch-test results become more actionable. If you're positive to linalool or ylang-ylang, the label will finally say so on newly-placed products — no more guessing what's inside "Parfum".
  • The transition is long. Until 2028, shelves hold a mix of old and new labels. An old-style label saying "Parfum" tells you nothing about whether your allergen is inside.
  • Non-EU markets keep the old rules. The US still requires only "fragrance" — so imported and travel purchases stay opaque.

During the transition, the practical bridge is checking products against your specific allergens including the components hiding inside umbrella terms — which is exactly what an AllerNote scan does. And if you want the full dataset — per-allergen prevalence, category breakdowns, zero-allergen picks — it's free on the research page.