Selling beeswax lip balm on a local market

This year I thought I would try and make a few pots of beeswax lip balm and sell it on a local market. Then I looked at the legalities. What a nightmare!!!!!

Surely I don't have to go through all that palava of notifying BIS (the
Government Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) AND notify the product direct to the European Commission using the Cosmetics Product
Notification Portal (CPNP)

see link on Bee-craft
http://www.bee-craft.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Value-added-beeswax.pdf

It will only have beeswax, sweet almond oil and a drop of Vit E oil in it!!

Is there any way around all this red tape?

You may be able to buy a licence for a recipe to make a balm from a small time cosmetic producers who has got the recipe through all the Government and EU hoops

The lady who does the workshops on soap and Balm lectures at the BBKA Sping Event and National Honey Show used to license her recipes but no idea if she still does it

RosieMc said:

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Is there any way around all this red tape?

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Not really.

The simplest means of compliance seems to be to find an assessor who will 'rubberstamp' standard recipes (suggest you might ask Dr Sara Robb who was setting up some such scheme for her published recipes). But even a 'rubberstamped' certificate is likely to cost you about £100/recipe.



I'm sure there will be some on here suggesting ignoring the legislation. Easy to suggest (with zero liability for any consequences), but poor advice.

MuswellMetro said:

…

The lady who does the workshops on soap and Balm lectures at the BBKA Sping Event and National Honey Show used to license her recipes but no idea if she still does it

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I think you would be referring to Dr Sara Robb.
http://www.bathpotions.com/root/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=6

itma said:

I think you would be referring to Dr Sara Robb.
http://www.bathpotions.com/root/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=6

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Thanks. After checking the link, the Beekeepers Safety Assessment Package isnt ready yet. Shame

RosieMc said:

Thanks. After checking the link, the Beekeepers Safety Assessment Package isnt ready yet. Shame

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That's why I began by saying you should contact her!
That page hasn't been updated for at least a year … this is however something that she has had in mind for quite a while.

itma said:

... (suggest you might ask Dr Sara Robb who was setting up some such scheme for her published recipes). …

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itma said:

I think you would be referring to Dr Sara Robb.
http://www.bathpotions.com/root/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=6

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I was but as she lives quite near me and has a shop in North Finchley i pass most days , i thought it would be to close to home to publicise her private commercial venture

( and i am allergic to the palm oil she uses in most of her soap recipes )

RosieMc said:

This year I thought I would try and make a few pots of beeswax lip balm and sell it on a local market. Then I looked at the legalities. What a nightmare!!!!!
[...]
It will only have beeswax, sweet almond oil and a drop of Vit E oil in it!!

Is there any way around all this red tape?

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Yes - sell it as "Cork Lubricant (for oboes, clarinets etc)" and in smaller print: "can also be used as lip balm, though not approved by the EU for this purpose."

Which is similar to how the Henry Doubleday approved fully-biodegradable 100% safe weedkiller ammonium sulphamate is still sold - as a 'compost accelerator'. Just to get around EU red tape.

LJ

have a look on this website it has some useful info

http://www.gcstm.co.uk/

little_john said:

Yes - sell it as "Cork Lubricant (for oboes, clarinets etc)" and in smaller print: "can also be used as lip balm, though not approved by the EU for this purpose."

Which is similar to how the Henry Doubleday approved fully-biodegradable 100% safe weedkiller ammonium sulphamate is still sold - as a 'compost accelerator'. Just to get around EU red tape.

LJ

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Like it! There are always loop holes to be found.

dpearce4 said:

have a look on this website it has some useful info

http://www.gcstm.co.uk/

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Thank you so much for the link to the Crafters Guild site. I've read through some of the CPNP notification guide - The form still looks a little daunting, but there are some useful self-help notes which may be able to guide me through.

or as Little_John says, I could call it cork lubricant .....

little_john said:

Which is similar to how the Henry Doubleday approved fully-biodegradable 100% safe weedkiller ammonium sulphamate is still sold - as a 'compost accelerator'. Just to get around EU red tape.

LJ

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Indeed. It's lovely how they include the historical info on what ratio to dilute it!

I've heard of folks selling a kit of parts (with instructions) for people to make lip balm at home from. Thus you are not making the finished product, the idea being that this got round restrictions.

I don't know if the regulations are still in force, but it used to be that you couldn't sell genuine free-range eggs at market unless you had a 'salmonellae-free certificate' - which of course costs money, and only very large-scale producers could absorb that cost. So they were sold instead as "animal feed". Oh yeah ...

isc26 said:

I've heard of folks selling a kit of parts (with instructions) for people to make lip balm at home from. Thus you are not making the finished product, the idea being that this got round restrictions.

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Now THAT is an inspired idea - make-up the cork lubricant/ leather boot waterproofing agent, except for just one ingredient that can easily be stirred in, with a nice touch of '100% natural' labelling etc (which oboe players and fell walkers would insist on, of course ), and sell 'ingredient X' as a separate item - as it only becomes 'lip balm' when they're added together. Brilliant idea.

LJ

little_john said:

Yes - sell it as "Cork Lubricant (for oboes, clarinets etc)" and in smaller print: "can also be used as lip balm, though not approved by the EU for this purpose."

Which is similar to how the Henry Doubleday approved fully-biodegradable 100% safe weedkiller ammonium sulphamate is still sold - as a 'compost accelerator'. Just to get around EU red tape.

LJ

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Thanks for that little gem of information I have been tearing my hair out in frustration since the EU interfered with its insistence on retesting everything on animals. Thereby depriving organic gardeners of the best weedkiller cum fertiliser ever.