selling handmade soap

[Helsbells]

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know if there are any legal rules and regulations around selling handmade soap?
I have searched the internet but not found anything remotely helpful. I seem to remember reading something somewhere about having to have some kind of hygene check or certificate or something.
Any ideas?

Thanks,
Helen

[lazyspice]

I don't know the full ins and outs of it but I know you have to have your products assessed before you can sell them (or give them as gifts apparently!). Have a browse around the forum on the Fresholi site, there are lots of people who have their own websites and a lot of information is available if you register.

[lazyspice]

Sorry, forgot to add a link

http://www.forum.fresholi.co.uk/index.php

[weeble]

Hi
You will need to have your products safety tested before you can sell, but this normally involves telling the company what you use, rather than sending off the soaps for testing. There is also the labelling laws. You have to have ingrediants in INCI (latin), address contact details and batch no's on every product. It took me ages to find out all the info! beware though, when getting products tested, some companies only do it for their products, which means you have to buy everything from them. Are you doing cp or m&p? You dont need hygene certificates or anything, but just use common sense!

http://www.cyrilssoapshed.co.uk

[Green Aura]

All the legislation comes under the EU Cosmetics Regulations. Everything has to carry a safety certificate. sites like the Soap Kitchen give advice and you can do courses in the legislation.