GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 1
HOUSE BILL 686
Short Title: Safe Cosmetics Act. (Public)
Sponsors: Representatives Belk, Ball, Harrison, and von Haefen (Primary Sponsors).
For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
Referred to: Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
April 3, 2025
*H686 -v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO PROHIBIT THE DISTRIBUTION OR SALE OF A COSMETIC PRODUCT 2
CONTAINING CERTAIN R ESTRICTED SUBSTANCES AS AN INTENTIONALLY 3
ADDED CHEMICAL IN AN Y AMOUNT, INCLUDING AS A NONFUNCTIONAL 4
BY-PRODUCT OR A NONFUNCTIONAL CONTAMINAN T ABOVE THE PRACTICAL 5
QUANTIFICATION LIMIT. 6
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 7
SECTION 1.(a) Subdivision (14b) of G.S. 106-121 is recodified as subdivision (14c) 8
of that section. 9
SECTION 1.(b) G.S. 106-121, as amended by subsection (a) of this section, reads 10
as rewritten: 11
"§ 106-121. Definitions and general consideration. 12
For the purpose of this Article: 13
… 14
(4b) The term "cosmetic product" means a cosmetic for retail sale or professional 15
use. 16
… 17
(9a) The term "intentionally added chemical" means a chemical added during the 18
manufacturing of a product or product component to provide a specific 19
characteristic, appearance, or quality or to perform a specific function. 20
… 21
(11b) The term "manufacturer" means a person that manufactures a final consumer 22
product or whose brand name is affixed to the consumer product. In the case 23
of a consumer product that is imported into the United States, "manufacturer" 24
includes the importer or first domestic distributor of the consumer product if 25
the person that manufactured or assembled the consumer product or whose 26
brand name is affixed to the consumer product does not have a presence in the 27
United States. 28
… 29
(12b) The term "nonfunctional by-product" means an element or compound that has 30
no functional or technical effect in the finished product and that: 31
a. Was intentionally added during the manufacturing process for a 32
cosmetic product at any point in the supply chain for a product, a raw 33
material, or an ingredient; or 34 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 686-First Edition
b. Was created or formed during the manufacturing process at any point 1
in the supply chain for a product, a raw material, or an ingredient. 2
"Nonfunctional by-product" includes, but is not limited to, an unreacted raw 3
material, a breakdown product of an intentionally added chemical, or a 4
by-product of the manufacturing process. 5
(12c) The term "nonfunctional contaminant" means an element or compound 6
present in a cosmetic product as an unintentional consequence of 7
manufacturing that has no functional or technical effect in the finished 8
product. "Nonfunctional contaminant" includes, but is not limited to, elements 9
or compounds present in the environment as contaminants that were 10
introduced into a product, a raw material, or a product ingredient as a result of 11
the use of an environmental medium, such as a naturally occurring mineral, 12
air, soil, or water, in the manufacturing process at any point in the supply chain 13
for a product's, a raw material's, or an ingredient's supply chain. 14
… 15
(14b) The term "practical quantification limit" means the lowest concentration of a 16
chemical that can be reliably measured within specified limits of precision, 17
accuracy, representativeness, completeness, and comparability during routine 18
laboratory operating conditions. 19
… 20
(14g) The term "restricted substance" means any of the following: 21
a. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including any 22
member of the class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at 23
least one fully fluorinated carbon atom. 24
b. Heavy metals and heavy metal-containing compounds, including 25
arsenic, cadmium, cadmium compounds, chromium, lead, lead 26
compounds, nickel, and selenium. 27
c. Parabens, including butylparaben, ethylparaben, isobutylparaben, 28
isopropylparaben, methylparaben, and propylparaben. 29
d. Ortho-phthalates and their esters, including dibutyl phthalate, 30
dicyclohexyl phthalate, hexyl phthalate, diisobutyl phthalate, 31
diisodecyl phthalate, diisononyl phthalate, diisooctyl phthalate, 32
diethylhexyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate, and benzyl butyl phthalate. 33
e. Formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasers, including formaldehyde, 34
paraformaldehyde, quaternium-15, diazolidinyl urea, DMDM 35
hydantoin, methylene glycol, imidazolidinyl urea, and sodium 36
hydroxymethylglycinate. 37
f. Benzophenones, including benzophenone, benzophenone-1, 38
benzophenone-2, benzophenone-3, dihydroxybenzophenone, 39
resbenzophenone, and oxybenzone. 40
g. Known carcinogens, including benzene, carbon black, coal tar, 41
ethylene oxide, toluene, naphthalene, metallic nickel, styrene, and 42
xylene. 43
h. Asbestos and asbestos-containing compounds, including talc. 44
i. Butylated compounds, including butylated hydroxytoluene and 45
butylated hydroxyanisole. 46
j. Siloxanes, including cyclotetrasiloxane, cyclopentasiloxane, 47
octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, and cyclosiloxanes. 48
k. Phenylenediamines, i ncluding m -phenylenediamine, 49
o-phenylenediamine, and p-phenylenediamine; triclosan; triclocarban; 50
and nonylphenol. 51 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
House Bill 686-First Edition Page 3
l. Nitrosamine and nitrosamine releasers, including diethanolamine and 1
triethanolamine. 2
…." 3
SECTION 2. G.S. 106-132 reads as rewritten: 4
"§ 106-132. Additives, etc., deemed unsafe. 5
Any added poisonous or added deleterious substance, any food additive, any pesticide 6
chemical in or on a raw agricultural commodity or any color additive, shall with respect to any 7
particular use or intended use be deemed unsafe for the purpose of application of 8
G.S. 106-129(1), paragraphs b and g and 106-129(4) with respect to any food, 106-133(1) with 9
respect to any drug or device, or 106-136(1) and (5) 106-136(1), (5), and (6) with respect to any 10
cosmetic, unless there is in effect a regulation pursuant to G.S. 106-139 of this Article limiting 11
the quantity of substance, and the use or intended use of such substance conforms to the terms 12
prescribed by such regulation. While such regulations relating to such substance are in effect, a 13
food, drug, or cosmetic shall not, by reason of bearing or containing such substance in accordance 14
with the regulations be considered adulterated within the meaning of G.S. 106-129(1)a, 15
106-133(1) and 106-136(1)." 16
SECTION 3. G.S. 106-136 reads as rewritten: 17
"§ 106-136. Cosmetics deemed adulterated. 18
A cosmetic shall be deemed to be adulterated: 19
… 20
(6) If it contains a restricted substance as an intentionally added chemical in any 21
amount, including as a nonfunctional by-product or a nonfunctional 22
contaminant above the practical quantification limit. The practical 23
quantification limit must be based on scientifically defensible, standard 24
analytical methods. The practical quantification limit for a given restricted 25
substance may be different depending on the analytical method used." 26
SECTION 4. Article 12 of Chapter 120 of the General Statutes is amended by adding 27
a new section to read: 28
"§ 106-141.2. Certificate of compliance for cosmetic products. 29
(a) If the Board of Agriculture has reason to believe that a cosmetic product contains a 30
restricted substance as an intentionally added chemical and is being offered for sale in violation 31
of this article, the Board may issue a notice to the manufacturer of the cosmetic product to provide 32
the Board with a certificate of compliance attesting that the cosmetic product does not contain a 33
restricted substance as an intentionally added chemical no later than 30 days after the date of the 34
notice. 35
(b) A manufacturer that does not provide a certificate of compliance shall notify persons 36
that sell that cosmetic product in this State that the sale of that cosmetic product is prohibited in 37
this State and provide the Board of Agriculture with a list of the names and addresses of those 38
notified no later than 30 days after the date of the notice." 39
SECTION 5. This act becomes effective January 1, 2026. 40